


Undecided Dorm

by XBears506X



Category: One Piece
Genre: ADHD, Alternate Universe, Angst and Humor, Asexual Character, Bullying, Dyslexia, F/F, Family Drama, Fluff, M/M, Magic-Users, Mental Health Issues, Mind Reading, Superhero nerds, Weird dreams
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-14 02:01:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4545909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XBears506X/pseuds/XBears506X
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you wake up with powers what do you do? Sanji Black finds out and has to adapt rather quickly. Ohara boarding school is just one stop on the way to finding the answers he is looking for. *Rating may change* (Temproty Hiatus due to my wedding and new apartment being put together. This story is still a high priority of mine! I don't want to rush and put out half assed chapters but I will post as soon as I feel ready.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Just a dream?

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story I had the guts to upload so let me know what kind of improvements I need. Thanks in advance for reading. :)

The hallway was long and every door was lit by a white candle over head. The dark wood floor accented by the slightly lighter, but still eerily blood-red carpet. With every breath he exhaled fog escaped his lips. ‘I shouldn't be here’ Sanji thought, but his legs would not stop moving forward. With each step he took the temperature dropped and the wind blew the candles out with each door he passed, creating the flickering light from most horror movies. ‘I need to stop. This is wrong”. He didn't know why it was wrong, but he knew he shouldn't be here, ‘I don't belong here’ he thought, and willed his legs to stop the slow walk forward. 

“Get out!” he heard a deep voice growl. “You don't belong here!” the voice seemed to be getting closer until it was right behind his head. Where there should have been warm breath going down his neck there was a cold breeze. “This is not the place for you, ” the voice whispered in his ear, “NOW GET OUT!” Sanji whipped around to see a pale blue teen covered in ice and behind the ice man was several more creeping up from the dark hall.

The ice creatures picked up speed turning the hallway into a sort of freezer, they screeched a chorus of ‘get out’ and ‘you don't belong’. Fear shook Sanji's body and he went to attack the horde of eerie looking ice sculptures. He ran full speed, jumping to place an axe kick to the creature's head, but it didn't phase him.

The closer they got, the more Sanji kicked and the more he realized his kicks were useless, he was tackled to the floor by one of the ice men and pinned by his hands and feet to the read carpet. The first one to approach him, the first that he saw got so close that his freezing cold nose was touching Sanji's.He could feel the chilling bite of ice as the creature spoke, “you don't belong here, GET. OUT” he bellowed. 

Sanji struggled and in a last-ditch effort to get free he grabbed the wrist of the man on top of him and yelled “Fuck off!” He felt the bite of cold on his already frostbitten hands before they burst into flames. The creature jumped back and howled in pain. Sanji stood up from the ground, hands still on fire, but not burning him. The blonde stared at his hands bewildered and shook them to get the flames off to no avail. As he shook his flaming hands wildly the already singed however oddly not melting Ice man punched him in the face, causing snowflakes to fall from the impact and Sanji woke up.

“Ahhh” Sanji yelled as he hit the floor, hands squeezed into fists and arms crossing his face. He braced himself for another impact and only opened his eyes when none came.

Opening his eyes, he saw his dark blue curtains blowing in the wind, for some reason that felt odd. After a particularly cold gust of air hit him, he remembered why, ‘It’s December’ he thought and got up to close the window. Looking out the window, he could see snow and the stars in the sky, ‘I wonder what time it is’ he turned around to see what time it could have been. Looking up, he fell to the floor shirking and terrified. 

Zeff opens the door to his son's room only to find him on the floor trying to make and understandable sentence. ‘Its a...….’ was the most Zeff could make out before he saw for himself.

Hanging from the middle of his son's ceiling was an old-fashioned candle chandelier, but it was made of fire. He ran to the kitchen and got the fire extinguisher to put out the flame. Zeff went over to help Sanji get off the floor when he saw his hand glowing red.

“Eggplant I think we need to talk.”


	2. Chapter 1:What is going on here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations?

Chapter 1: Explanations?

Sanji’s hands were sitting wrapped in a cold, damp dishcloth and he was not allowed to touch anything flammable. Zeff had even told him to stay sitting on the kitchen counter like a five-year-old with a scraped knee and to ‘just breathe deeply.’ “Zeff what the hell is going on? Who the hell broke in and did that?! Why do I have to have my hand wrapped up?! Was that red stuff dangerous?!.... If my hands are hurt, I swear I’ll kill ‘em. FUCKING ANSWER ME DAMMIT!” Sanji yelled, getting increasingly angry before he could even catch it the hand towel was on fire. “Shit!” he threw it in the sink and went to turn the faucet on only to have the handle melt “What the hell!? Zeff help!” The large peg-legged man came running in, still on the phone.

“Shit! Robin just get here….. No, this time, my kitchen's on fire.” he hung up the phone and for the second time tonight put out a raging flame. Sanji's hands were growing hot coals red and his hair was starting to look like embers at the tips. Zeff put the fire extinguisher down, grabbed a cup and went to fill it with water when he saw that handle was horribly misshapen. “Okay eggplant sit down...NOT ON THE RUG YOU LITTLE SHIT!! on the tile.”

Taking a bottle of Jack Daniels out of the cupboard he poured some into a glass, the braided mustache moved some as he took a large gulp emptied it, then filled it again, but this time, he set it in front of Sanji. “When you calm down a bit drink that, it will calm your nerves a bit more. Just don't melt my glass." Sanji's hands now look as though they had been caught by a door and were red because of the sting, he picked up the glass cautiously and downed it in one go coughing a bit from the burn.

Sanji waited a few minutes for the sting of the jack to go away before he spoke. “So do you know what the hell is going on here geezer?” he asked as calmly as he could, his voice scratchy from the strong drink. 

Sighing Zeff shifted to a more comfortable position looked Sanji in the eye and said: “You must be some sort of fire elemental.” Sanji just gaped at him. Staring at his adoptive father like he was crazy, he opened his mouth after several failed attempts to speak before Zeff took pity and gave more information. “Fire elementals are a type of mythical creature, Eggplant I know this is strange but you have to trust me here. I have a friend coming in to explain, I don't know when she'll be here but…” he trailed off looking at the front door in the other room.

“How do you know, One that I'm a fire elemental and, Two that any of this is fucking real, this could just be a prank.”Sanji was still staring at his thumbs when another thought crossed his mind. “And if this is real and you knew that this stuff was real and that I could be some freak, why didn't you tell me!” His hands started to heat again and he watched them grow brighter and brighter until he balled them into a fist in an attempt to calm his nerves. 

“Sanji if you were biologically my kid this would have been a very different situation. Most supers show their powers shortly after the age of seven you are sixteen, I thought you would have shown any ability by now, apparently that is not the case”. Zeff was trying to stay calm, you could see it in the way his face wrinkled and his mustache twitched, but Sanji just couldn't hold it in he was too confused and the lack of sleep was messing with his brain.

“A SUPER what the hell is a SUPER!?” Sanji thought about Zeff's words before he looked his 'father' in the eye again and this time, he was beyond angry. “ARE YOU A SUPER!?” Zeff just nodded his head and at this point Sanji was livid. 

Sanji’s whole body was glowing red he couldn't control it, his hair was turning to fire and his pajamas were sporting the product of his abnormal body temperatures with flames engulfing his entire body. “Eggplant you need to calm down! Getting angry like this isn't going to help anything! DAMMIT Sanji, KNOCK IT OFF”. Zeff was yelling at this point and Sanji was rising to the challenge of being the loudest, because whoever was the loudest was right in this house. They had screamed at each other variations of 'How could you not tell me' and 'Not everyone can take the news you shitty kid' followed by 'This isn't even real you old bastard' for ten whole minutes before a gentle voice interrupted.

“Ehem, Zeff you should know by know yelling at a fire starter is a very bad idea.” The woman said. Her shoulder length black hair was straight and shiny her voice gentle but her eyes dared him to deny her. “Hello Sanji my name is Ms. Niko, and I see you have quite the situation going on here.” She looked around the room, seeing the scorch marks on the rug sitting only a foot or so away from the duo.

Sanji was still glowing red however the fire in his hair faded away to just a tinge of flame and his pale complexion was slowly returning. “Nice to meet you Ms. Niko, I assume you are the old man's friend here to help.” Sanji took her hand and shook it being as polite as possible, wack job or not she is a lady. 

Still looking around the room, she gave a small, unsatisfied huff before looking to Zeff for help. “Zeff, is there a place that will not catch fire so easily that is big enough for three people?” Zeff made a vague follow me motion and Ms. Niko, Sanji and Zeff went down to the basement. 

The basement was damp and dark and not at all a place where anyone should ever have important conversations, but Sanji was the only one who seemed to mind the location so he kept his mouth shut and settled into an old slightly beat up lawn chair. When the concrete room was adequately lit and everyone was seated relatively comfortably the questions began.

“Zeff tells me that you accidentally started a fire is that true?” Ms. Niko asks, her face giving away nothing. Sanji shook his head, this was all too unreal to even be thinking of as a possibility as far he knew this was some elaborate trick, maybe Nami managed to get him on punked or something.

“Robin, he doesn't know what he did, I assume he just did it in his sleep”. Zeff said gruffly. He shot Sanji a look that said keep your mouth shut and Sanji for once complied. “ I know he did it because, well you saw it his hands, they were on fire!” Ms. Niko or Robin just thought cataloged the information and went on with her line of questioning.

“Sanji were you asleep before the first fire happened?” he simply nodded still not able to speak. “Do you perhaps remember dreaming?” again he nodded. “Would you mind telling me about your dream?” Sanji didn't know if he should tell her about the dream, or tell her that this is all bullshit and he thinks this is a really stupid idea for a prank. Robin must see the doubt on his face because the next thing she does is all the confirmation he needs. She clones herself, there are now two of her in the room and when she speaks so does her clone. “I can assure you this is all real if that is what your fear is.” she says accompanied by the eerie echo of her clone standing off to her left. Her clone vanishes with a wave of her hand and she asks one more time “Now would you mind telling me about your dream?”

Sanji tells her about the dream down to the detail on the wallpaper, saying it all out loud it doesn't make any sense. However, if he was the one to make the fire chandelier he can explain that. At the time he was waiting for the impact of an icy fist all he could think about was how he wished he had one of those candles to burn the icy bastard and that is exactly what he told Robin.

“Well, I understand your doubt about all of this Sanji, but I am most definitely sure after hearing about your dream that you caused the fires tonight” Sanji hung his head in shame and exhaustion because well, this was taxing on one's brain. “However, I am not entirely sure that you are a fire elemental, it is possible that you are something else with a fire ability”. Sanji shifted in his seat, eyes still focusing on a particularly interesting crack in the cement. This was all so unreal, he had so many questions and no idea where to start. Robin took pity on him and turned to Zeff to explain what the next steps should be. 

“Zeff, after his break in the semester, Sanji should go to Ohara boarding school. I can give him a ring that will make his abilities harder to conjure for the next few days at his current school, but the stronger he gets the less likely the ring is to hold it at bay”. Sanji stood so fast he hardly knew he was standing until his head hit other overhead light.

“I don't want to go anywhere! Zeff, tell her I'm fine! Tell her we can handle this!” he said frantically hand holding his aching head. When Zeff said nothing he tried a different approach. “Zeff I don't want to leave, you are the only family I have, please don’t send me away!” he pleaded, but still Zeff said nothing he simply stood there fingering his mustache. His body started to turn into flames again and a strange mist was coming from his cheeks. From any view, it would look like tears evaporating from the heat, but he would swear till he was on his death-bed that it was a leak from the water pipe hitting his face.

“Look Eggplant, it's a good school. Ohara teaches a bunch of kids with abilities, and you don't have to hide them” Zeff said rising from his chair. “I know you don't wanna go, but the restaurant will still be here when you come back home for your breaks, and you can work over the summer. Hell, I can sell this shitty place and have the loft over the Baratie re-done so when you come back we are even living at the damn restaurant.”Sanji shook his head violently trying to stop the feeling growing in his stomach. “Sanji, it really is what's best for now. You have a week before break and two weeks of break before the classes at Ohara actually start, I promise it wouldn't be that bad I went there and look at me” Zeff said proudly pointing in with both thumbs reminding Sanji one of the figures on a pizza box. 

Sanji was now softly laughing between dry coughs that sounded very much like dry sobs and slowly calming down. When the fires that had engulfed him died down enough Zeff grabbed his shoulder and move to make him sit back down, Sanji went willingly, all the fight he had long gone and exhaustion set in its place. Zeff moved his chair to sit closer to Sanji and set a comforting hand on his shoulder. The next one to speak was Robin.

“I will come back at some point during your two-week vacation to talk to you about Ohara, but seeing as how it is rather early in the morning and I have a class to teach I can only stay for a short while longer.” Sanji sat in a defeated position elbows on his knees and his head resting in the palms of his hands. “This ring will do what I just said make it harder for the fire you control to get out of control,” she pulled out a thin gold band with a bright red gem on the top. “This will only do so if it is on your finger. I suggest not sleeping in it, it works kind of like medicine, the longer the ring is on, the easier it is for your body to fight against it”. She held the ring out in her hand for Sanji to take which he did, but he only held it agreeing that it's best to only wear it when he needs it. 

Robin left as quickly as she came, she said her goodbyes and then she was gone. Zeff walked Sanji back upstairs and to his room and Sanji fell asleep clutching the ring in his right hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it seemed like people didn't hate it so I thought I should post more. Please feel free to leave comments for me even if they are correction or suggestions, I would love the help :) Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	3. Chapter 2:Telling lies

Chapter 2  


The next day at school was hell Sanji felt extremely sick. About halfway into his second period he had to excuse himself several times just so he wouldn't vomit on the poor sap next to him in English class.

His temper was comparable to a shark after smelling blood, downright vicious and people kept a safe distance behind him, even his best friend Nami was afraid to step on his toes. The bell at the end of his third class signaled his lunch slot and he couldn't be happier to be out of that stuffy history room. Walking down the hall Vivi and Nojiko, Nami’s older sister caught up with him and walked with him to lunch.

“Hey Sanji, are you okay, you look really pale….Well, more pale than normal” Vivi pointed out with a smile as she locked her arm in his.

“Yeah, now that you mention it, he does look kind of green” Nojiko agreed and put her hand to his forehead only to quickly remove it with a hiss. “Dear god Sanji you need to go to the nurse, like now!”  
Truth be told the walls were closing in and the floor seems a little more unstable than normal. However, being in the presence of two lovely ladies he just shook off the feeling, besides, he would be sitting soon, so no need to worry right?

“I appreciate the concern ladies, but I'm fine, just a little nauseous, nothing a little food can't help,” he said moving his arm to give Vivi a hug. The girls sighed, but conceded to it because they knew by now that Sanji knew himself well enough to know his limits, and if he didn't think he was at said limit no one could convince him otherwise.

Once, in the lunch room he and Vivi unpacked the home-brought lunches while Nojiko a senior and ‘to cool for packing lunches’ went to buy hers. Nami arrived shortly after with bits of the lunches she traded her packed lunch for, obviously coming out with more than she brought with her. 

She sat in between her sister and Vivi and spoke while taking inventory of her new assortment of food.  
“So, Nojiko and I just found out Bellemere is gonna take us down to see her friends in Minnesota over break. “ She announced peeling the skin around an orange. “I can't wait to meet her friends, she's always goin on about the stupid things they used to do” Nami pulls a piece off of the fruit and ate it. “So what about you guys?” She asked while chewing.

Vivi spent the next five minutes talking about how she and her father were going back to a place called Alabasta because some part of her family had some really big news that the whole family needed to hear. “So yeah, I don't get to see much of a ‘winter’ vacation sadly”. Vivi said, laughing. “What about you Sanji, you and Zeff gonna do the same thing as last year?"

“ Huh?” He said looking up from the ring on his hand. “Oh, yeah, probably”  
'I don't wanna keep this a secret from them, he thought looking back at the ring on his hand, I don't think I have a choice, though, 'I'm gonna have to lie'…... Sanji was playing with the new accessory now and looked at both of them before he took a deep breath and spoke. “Yeah over break, I'm gonna try and sleep off whatever the hell I have going on, and then maybe work on some new recipes in my down time.” 'Okay Sanji, just say it.' “I'm also gonna read over the brochure from the new school I’ll be going to and then I might get my suits tailored you know how….”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Nami screamed, slamming her hand on the table drawing the attention of a few bystanders. “New school? Please tell me you mean like college pamphlets or something.” She sat back down and gave Sanji a look that said do not even try to get out of this.

'That could have gone a lot smoother.' Sighing, he recounted word for word the complicated lie he and Zeff worked out the night before. “So basically I'm going to this military school to work on my savate*, and I've heard they have a great cooking program. I'm leaving three days before the classes there start back up after the break.” The entire time he spoke, he was focusing on the making the lie convincing, so he wasn't looking anywhere but their faces and as he watched the emotions pass over his friends faces he almost threw up. He was always a good liar but he hated having to use it on his friends, it felt like betrayal and they didn't deserve that.

“So what, you are just leaving? Where are you going? Will we be able to visit? Will you be able to visit us? Will you be back over the summer!?” Nami started asking questions so fast Sanji couldn't even tell when the sentences ended.

Sanji moved to sit next to her and hopefully stop people from looking over at the table. “I'm just going to Nevada, it's really not that far from Michigan,” he pushed some hair out of her face and behind her ear as he could see the beginning of a pout forming. “It really is okay, Zeff’s going to sell our house so he can live above the restaurant so Ill be out of the school district here anyway.” he spoke as calm as he could, his lies being accepted was bittersweet and he felt just as bad as he did relieved by this outcome. “I can take lots of pictures for you, ” he smiled weakly.

“You really are bad at geography, Nevada is on the other side of the states Sanji.” She threw her arms around his shoulders and squeezed him in a tight hug. “If you don't wanna go we will figure something out and you can stay here with us, and I don't want stupid pictures, I don't want you to leave were supposed to be best buds remember,” she said trying not to cry into his shoulder. Sanji's heart sank, he didn't want to go, but what could he do. He looked down at the ring sitting on his finger and then hugged Nami tighter around her small boyish frame. 'This thing doesn't last forever 'he thought to himself before he let her go.

Sanji took her small shoulders in his hands and forced her to look at him, he smiled softly and push away all reservations with the hope that they will be safe and lied once more “ Nami, this is what I want. This is what is best for me, a good routine, seeing new places, new experience, and, in the words of Zeff ‘ A kick in the ass from time to time’. I promise I will come to visit every break we get, I’ll be here I'm not going to abandon you guys.” He pulled her in for another hug and, this time, she did cry a little and Sanji himself felt the water blurring his vision but refused to let them out. Vivi and even Nojiko join in on hugging him and the lot of them got some strange looks ranging from what the hell to you the man Sanji.

They ate their lunches, but he could hardly eat between the nervousness, nausea and not to mention Vivi and Nami hanging at his sides. Twenty minutes later the lunch bell rang and the girls were forced to let go, they walked him to his next class and ‘accidentally’ ran into several times in the hallways resulting in surprise hugs for the rest of the day.

He was in his second to last class of the day and the ring on his finger was really starting to bother him. Sanji never wore jewelry because it would color his skin and sometimes cause an awkward looking red rash on his finger. This time, however, it was itching and fairly bad, so he twisted it around to make the itch go away, but it wouldn't the itch slowly became a painful burning rash like an itch. The red gem of the ring was started to glow faintly.

He tried to focus on his science teacher but couldn't help looking at or twisting the ring on his finger. 'This shit is driving me nuts, why are you still itching?' he was getting increasingly irritated and the more frustrated he got the brighter the gems glow became. 'I’ll just ignore it', he thought and folded his hands on the desk in front of him. Not even a full five minutes later the burning in his finger was traveling up his hand. Sanji put his left hand in his pocket and decided the best way to pay attention to the teacher and not the itching burn was to take notes.

'Deltons are the fundamental unit of mass in alchemy. Nucleons all have a mass of one Delton, blah blah blah this is so boring.' Sanji stopped writing notes and took his hand out of his pocket to again get rid of the itch but the ring wouldn't move. 'Shit, my finger must be swelling!'

Now Sanji was getting frantic what if this hurts his hand and he lost his finger, no way was that going to happen consequences be damned. He pulled the ring and it was starting to come off, but as it was sliding off his finger, he could hear the fire burning from the underside of his hair, 'Dammit, I can't let people see that, but I wouldn't just lose my finger I might lose my hand.' He quickly put the ring back on again and tried to ignore it, but as the time passed he ring grew brighter and the burn hotter until he could see the red that was a sign of his fire start to bleed from the ring and spread to his other fingers. 'This ring is really bad at its job' he thought as he watched his hand grow red and heard his hair start to crackle again, 'shit count to ten, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, oh fuck this I gotta go now!' He put his hand in his pockets and walked over to the teacher.

Mrs. Clare was barely in her thirties and was known for her ‘tough love’ as the student called it. The class was in the middle of independent studied so he quickly and quietly walked to her desk and politely asked: “May I please use the restroom?”

“You have thirty more minutes in class, I'm sure you can wait,” She said pointing to the clock on the wall. “Now sit back down”.

“Look, I don't feel well Mrs.Clare, I really need to go now” this wasn't a lie and anyone in the room could tell by the way he swayed while walking he wasn't well. He tried to get her to let him leave by giving a detailed description of his symptoms but she wouldn't budge.

“Sanji, I don't have time for this, I have a lot of tests to finish grading, and arguing is not an efficient use of my time.” She said never even looking up at Sanji.

Now Sanji usually didn't like to push teachers, but the crackling was getting louder and he could even smell the fire in his hair. He had to leave and soon, “Please Mrs. Clare I'm about to puke on the floor, ” he fake gagged to prove his point.

“You look fine to me, now sit back down or I’ll give you a detention” she pulled out the slip of paper used for writing detention notices. She looked up briefly and Sanji pulled the most pathetic face he could and she wrote his name on the pink slip of paper then handed it to him.

 

Now he was angry! The crackling in his ears was now a roar and eyes around the room were starting to look for the sound. Sanji never did this, but he was terrified of someone seeing and he knew he had to if he didn't want to hurt anyone. He hurried back to his desk, put away his notes and walked out of the classroom. Behind him, he heard the teacher yelling about an office referral and possible suspension, not like it mattered he was moving anyway. 

With his backpack in hand, he ran to the nearest empty bathroom and used the metal latch to lock the stall door. Sanji took out the water he saved during lunch and set it on the water reserve of the toilet. After doing so, he took off the ring and put it in his pocket so he wouldn't drop it. As soon as the ring left his hand his hair was almost fully a flame, his normally pale hands were red and after a few minutes of inspection, he saw his finger was never actually swollen. He waited for his hands to look like they should only like a burning red version of them before he put the ring back on and called his dad. This had been a day from hell and burning down the school would only make it worse.

Three rings and then he heard Zeff on the other end. “What's goin on eggplant, shouldn't you still be in class?.” Sanji quickly told his father what happened still being quiet because someone could enter the bathroom any minute, and said there was no way he could walk home today, not unless he wanted to be caught or arrested for arson. “Okay, I’ll come get you, just wait outside by the lake about a block down from school” and with that Zeff hung up. Sanji drank all of his water in one gulp and he went to wait by the lake skipping his last class of the day.

*Savate- a French method of fighting in which feet and fists are used*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow its nice to see that somebody actually likes my work :) As always feel free to comment, con crit is always accepted.


	4. Chapter 3: The best out of a bad situation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So yea I am so sorry this is late guys but I've had a lot going on. I also had a bit of trouble with this chapter and that might be why its longer than the other ones,so I hope you like it and feed back is always wanted. The italics don't work for this apparently so ('thought') means that's what Sanji is thinking.

‘Warm... So warm. I've never felt so... warm… no… cozy. This is, cozy, I don't want to open my eyes, I just want to stay here…. Here is comfortable.’

“Sanji”

was that…”Sanji” ‘Zeff?.’

“Sanji, please stop” ‘wait, stop what? What's going on?’ The light is slowly filling his vision and an orange glow is creeping in his surroundings. ‘What is this?’ He stretches his hand out to touch the glow that was so comforting to him just moments ago. As he lifted his hand to touch the swirl of orange the glow moved with it almost as if it was attached to him, following his every move as if it were being held on by an invisible string. The orange-red color swung and looped around his hand, but with each grasp, he still managed to get closer almost touching this warm loving and terrifying glow. His hand was slowly getting closer to it, and the closer he got the brighter the glow became. 

“Sanji, stop” ‘Stop what? Zeff, what's going on? Why can't I talk?’ The glow is growing darker and swirling with the lighter colors and engulfing them adding to its brightness and warmth. The heat was no longer comforting, but threatening, rising to levels of warmth Sanji can feel on his skin now not just in the air. Am I doing this? He reaches out to touch the wavering lights and again, they move with him mirroring his movements perfectly. ‘No, no, stop I can't be doing this! I have the ring, it’s supposed to stop this!’ The once orange and safe glow changed to what now was a title wave of blood red sparkling with orange and yellow surrounding him. 

“Sanji!” ‘Zeff I'm sorry I can't stop it! What's going on?! Why isn't the ring working?!?'

Sanji frantically kicks his legs, Just get away! He does a spin kick but it's still following his moves. Stop it dammit. The glow attaches to his leg and starts to swirl around his calf. What the hell…. Shit. The glow is now circling up his leg already at his hip. ‘This is bad... REALLY bad.’ The blond opens his mouth to yell for help but nothing comes out, the only sound is his ragged breathing and the mesmerizing sound of the light. Several more minutes passed and Zeff’s voice was now only a whisper compared to the sound of this light.

Sanji reached for the ring, maybe I'm not doing this right, he tugs on it and feels around for some sort of button, but the ring was just as before a seemingly simple ring. The warm glow became burning and Sanji felt like a lobster in a pot only now realizing that the temperature was being turned up. ‘Please, please help me. Ms. Niko…. Anyone….please.’ Still unable to speak and with the glow rapidly consuming his whole being he was panicked, he was alone fighting something he can't control and no one could hear or help him.

Never had Sanji wanted to be alone and in the company of someone at the same time to this degree. He couldn't stand it the light burned and hurt, but not like it should, it was a mental pain emotional even. The wisps of color moved up his torso licking at his chin as it grew. He could even smell it now, the smell of sun on a hot summer day at noon. Almost like breathing in a fire with your nose, no air only heat. The tornado of light continued to circle his body and now it was ghosting over his lips and just as it did, he could feel the warmth enter his lungs, the same cozy feeling as before only now it was overrun by dread. As if the light had breathed some sort of life into him, he found his ability to speak and he did. 

A very soft “someone, help” escaped his lips before the light could completely encase him, moments before his eyes were covered, a new light appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The blue and teal, light expanded, encasing what he was sure represented him in colors. A bright light flashed and then he was floating in a void of some kind, but this one wasn't black or white it was green. Teal, green and changing shades of blue, brilliant colors he had never seen before and he was lost in it.

Sanji came back to his senses and looked down at the ring that was supposed to help him only to realize that it too has changed to green instead of its beautiful ruby red. He found the he didn't care about the color of the ring or even the horror he had faced moments ago he just felt safe and whole. Sanji wanted to float here forever to never feel that out of control again, but just as quickly as the magical colors that saved him came, they were whisked away and Sanji was left with only a fraction of the light he had before, and this time is was his and attached to him but only half as irate as it had once been.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sanji woke with a start only to find himself in darkness. It took him several more minutes than it reasonably should have for him to realize, it was because he was face down on his living room sofa. His limbs were stiff and he was so sweaty that he was sticking the sofa, he felt like he might just keel over at any second, not that he looked much better. Using his hands to right himself to a sitting position he waited for the room to stop spinning before standing and made his way to the kitchen.

It had been two days now since Sanji left school that abruptly, but it didn't really matter seeing as he was suspended anyway. Opening the fridge Sanji looked for what he was going to have for lunch only to find a small round container with the words Eggplant written on it in sloppy handwriting. He took the soup and was about to get a pot to heat it up when he saw one already on the stove, perfect for heating up a single serving of homemade soup. ‘Shitty old man’ opening the container he carefully poured the contents into the pot and turned the dial on the electric stove to mid. Pulling a chair from the dining area the young chef sat and watched the pot heating up his lunch, he let his mind wander to the dream that has been plaguing his mind for the last two nights. Every time he closes his eyes and manages to drift off, he loses control, but just as threatening as his loss of control, is the commanding power this other light has. Somehow just making it vanish, taking all of his fear and worries with it.

Well, worries may be gone in his dreams, but the to-do list for moving is most definitely still here. Sanji pulls the list of things Zeff has so graciously made for him off of the fridge, and at the top is to get the car looked at before the drive to Ohara. ‘Yeah, yeah, I’ll do it tomorrow geezer’ Sanji scoffed and put the note back under the fish magnet only to turn around and see another note on the cabinet. “Do it today Eggplant or you’ll get a foot in the face”. ‘Well, there go my plans for the day’. The blond proceeded to open the cabinet door and got a glass and filled it with water. Sitting back down he drank it and waited for his soup to be ready.

With the soup gone, and annoying list to get started on Sanji finally put on real clothes. People may think all he cares about is fashion, but in all honestly he likes his blue sweater with the waves on it better than anything else. They say the outfit makes the man, or if you are a Kingsman manner, but Sanji prides himself on both, so presentation is everything just like cooking. However, being sick is reason enough to slack on appearance besides, he’s only going to Frankie's garage. The twenty-seven-year-old with blue hair wouldn't even wear pants if he could get away with it. So black pants and plain light blue button up with a white jacket it is. Keys in hand and looking better than he feels Sanji is out the door and in the car driving to the mechanic within minutes. Passing people and driving fast enough that trees blur past Sanji makes it to Franky's fast but safe and without suffering the damn motion sickness he had developed from being sick.

He pulls up and parks right in front of the big glass window and waved to the receptionist inside while putting the car in park, he jumps out of the dark blue truck and walks inside locking it with a remote behind him.

“Hey Kalifa, is Franky here, I need my car looked at today if possible?” The leggy blonde woman types away at her computer. What Sanji assumes is her attempt to find an appointment time for his car.

“Sorry hun, Franky will be out till three for a meeting, you’re welcome to wait if you would like an appointment.” She states curtly and with an air of finality. Looking at his smartphone reveals that it is two fifteen so he decides waiting would be better than running around for forty-five minutes. He sat down on the hard plastic chair that was bolted to the floor as if it was going to leave if it wasn't and began playing the waiting game.

Looking down at the ring still firmly on his finger the teen starts to fidget, Ms. Niko had said the reason he felt sick was because his body was fighting the ring so hard. ‘ I wonder what would happen without this’ he spun the ring so the gem was facing his palm, ‘I bet I would become some big ball of flame and light the auto shop on fire’. Sanji sighed and turn the ring to face the proper way and sat back defeated on the waiting room chair. ‘This sucks!’ 

The next time he looks at the clock, it’s two fifty so he decides that snap chat is a good way to pass the time. Pulling the Slytherin scarf Vivi made him for Christmas last year up over his nose and tugging his green hat lower on his head, he snaps the picture and captions ‘Waiting for my mechanic’ and adds it to his story. Clicking the newest name on the screen which just so happens to be his lovely Nami makes his bad day slightly better, her smile always manages to brighten his mood. He was just finishing her story when the front door opened and a very loud and enthusiastic mechanic came walking in.

“Hey bro sorry to keep ya waiting I was supposed to be back by three, but time got the best of me” he almost yelled.

“It’s okay Franky” Sanji assured, “Do you have time to look at my truck?” 

“Of course come on into the shop. We can hang out while I look her over” Franky offered with a wave of his hand and Sanji followed him to a room they spent a lot of time seeing as they were friends for a while now.  
The garage was well taken care of and tools were placed all over, but still hung with respect and love. Franky opened the big door and Sanji threw him the keys to go get his car and seconds later Franky was back blue truck and all.

Opening the door he asked: “What do you want done with her?”

“I need you to look over everything,” The blonde said while pulling himself up on the work bench to sit.

“Well, it's a good thing you came today, starting tomorrow I am employed elsewhere” Franky said propping the hood into the up position.

“What do you mean? Isn't this your place” Sanji pointed out while watching everything that was done under the hood.

“Well yeah it is but my brother Iceberg will be taking over for me and merging this with Gally-law because I have to move for my new job. So why do you need a whole look after you were in here about a month ago and everything was fine, what gives?’ Franky asked while shutting the hood and moving to check the tires.

Sanji pulled his legs up and sat cross-legged on the old work bench and prepared himself to lie, again. “The old man is sending me off to this military school in Nevada” Franky’s head moved a bit to show he was listening and wanted Sanji to continue. “It's called Ohara’s School for the Gifted or something like that, apparently most people just call it Ohara or something I don't know”.

The mechanic stood so fast that he narrowly missed hitting his head on the door of the car “did you say Ohara?” he questioned. Sanji just nodded his head in hopes to avoid further questions, but that hope was dashed as soon as it came. A loud, boisterous laugh came from his blue haired friend and that left Sanji quite confused.

“What are you then?” Now that just confused him more, what did he mean by that? “Well come on you can tell me, I graduated from Ohara. I was actually talking to Robin before I went to my meeting, ” he pointed his large thumbs at his chest and asked again “So what are ya?”

Sanji's mind was so clouded and full of confusion the only words he could make out were “Fire something”. When is mind calmed down and wasn't going a mile a minute he actually explained what they knew about him and what he was. “I'm a fire elemental or something like that, we aren’t quite sure, but that’s the best guess they have”.

“Wow, this is incredible! That must be why Robin was in town.” Franky wiped grease onto his jumper and walked over to the bench Sanji was sitting on. “That’s why I'm leaving, she offered me a job in the shop department of the school. So I guess I'm gonna be your teacher, ” he said through a laugh.

Sitting up more however, still cautious of the situation, Sanji deiced he should ask what he was “So you went there right?” Franky nodded and Sanji continued “so what are you then?”

“I would think you could tell bro, she offered me a job in the shop” A large hand gestured to the machinery in the room. Seconds passed and Sanji was still playing dumb, he learned early on to not make yourself look dumb you should make them say it and in this situation that was definitely a good idea. “I’m a mechanical super little bro” Franky sighed, but his mood picked up considerably seconds later when the disappointment wore off, he walked over and shut the car door before sitting across from Sanji with a slightly serious however still lighthearted expression.

“The car will be fine to take the trip, but are you gonna be okay sitting in the car for thirty-two hours driving to a state you’ve never been to?” he asked rather pointlessly seeing as the answer was written all over Sanji's face when he talked about leaving, as good as he was at lying; after a while the mask starts to break.

“I’ll be fine, the old man and I will be driving on and off every few hours and maybe stop at a hotel or two” Sanji shrugged, keeping as much emotion as he could out of his face, he looked at the floor pretending to cough. “I mean it’s long, but we’ll manage, we always do, ” he added with a small but genuine smile.

A large hand hit Sanji's shoulder, startling him, but it was followed by a laugh that eased his frayed nerves. “Look, bro, I know you and Zeff are stubborn, but but that drive is long even on my bike. I’m going up there anyways, why don't we all go together, the back of all blue here has a trailer hitch I can attach sunny there and that way the driving is among three people, not two.”

“I don't see why not, the old man has a bum leg so I was going to do most of the driving anyway. I’ll see what he thinks tonight, but I’m pretty sure he would be okay with that.” That actually sounded like a great idea he’s not going to be the only one that gets out of the car and stays. Sanji was about to voice this realization when his pocket started vibrating. Geezer the caller I.D said.

“I'm getting the car looked at now,” he said as he put the phone to his ear

“I know I can hear you two talking. Yes, he can drive down with us, but the mechanical brat is filling the car with gas we can get it cheaper that way” A gruff voice said over the phone.

“How did, are you outside the garage?” Sanji asked, peering out the fogged garage window.

“I'm across the street at the deli now hurry up, Robin is coming for dinner and I have groceries that need to be unloaded” 

“How you could hear us from all the way over there? I mean I know Franky’s loud but not that loud” Sanji questioned thinking it probably had something to do with his super ability, whatever that was.

“I'll tell you at dinner tonight bring Franky too, he doesn't eat enough” and then the line went dead.

Sanji took the phone from his face and looked up at his friend who was trying not to laugh over by the blue truck. “Fuck off, I guess you’re coming with us and Zeff says you are having dinner with us tonight.” he said smiling the first full smile he had in days.


	5. Chapter 4: It's my party and i'll cry if I want to.

‘Get the car looked at, done. Buy new suitcase, check. New clothes, uniform, razors, personal items, blah blah blah check.’  
“When are they gonna be here?!”Sanji yelled while throwing the to-do list on his bed, flopping down next to it dramatically.

“Seven, are you done packing?” Zeff yelled back asking about his suitcase status for the third time that night.

Sanji groaned, but otherwise just ignored him and went back to his closet to decide what he’s taking with him and what is going in boxes to be moved to the apartment over the Baratie. He leaves tomorrow, literally tomorrow morning and tonight is his going away party because it’s the only night all his friends could make it. Vivi got back from Alabasta two days ago, but Nami just got back this morning and she is the one who really wanted to do this. Franky will be there, but that’s only because he was spending the night, that was decided over dinner a few nights ago. 

‘Boy was that an interesting night’, Sanji took out his reserve pack of cigarettes that Zeff thankfully doesn't know about. Taking one out he pulls the Bic lighter from his pocket. Smoking hasn't become a habit just yet, living with Zeff makes it hard to get away with and that's why he leaves the window open in his room when he smokes. ‘I should probably do that, shouldn't I?’ he sets down the cardboard box, careful not to exhale the smoke in his lungs before the cold air can mask the scent.

“It’s useless Eggplant, I can still smell that” he hears from down the hall.

Sanji sighs letting go of the smoke in his lungs and glares at his closed door ‘how does he do that? Somehow he can tell if he smokes in the house, tries to sneak out or anything really. Bringing it back to his lips, he took a drag and walked over to the window anyway ‘no reason to have the whole room smell of smoke’

“How do you do that old man?” he sighs through a cloud of smoke.

“I told you I'm a sense supper did I not?” is asked through the door, but he didn't wait for an answer “You aren't so dumb that you think that means I can't smell if smoke is in my house.”  


‘Oh yea, he did mention that at dinner didn’t he’ Sanji tangled his hands in his hair just thinking about dinner with the four of them and how much information was actually packed into his head. He almost forgot that his adoptive father was a super altogether because of the new school, schedule, living arrangements, and campus rules. Not to mention that he got his uniform and was forced to try it on after dinner, it wasn't bad typical white button down shirt, black pants and tie, it just made the fact that he was moving so much more real. Sanji had only moved a few times in his life, when he moved from the marine base in France, to America then to a foster family and that was it. This time was no different his whole life was changing, its like when he had to learn English after speaking french most of his life. Sanji took another drag and flicked the ash into his makeshift ashtray.

He sat next to his slightly open window, feeling the cold air touch his face and the heat from the smoke in his lungs. There wasn't that much left to do and as much of a relief that was, it meant that the time to leave was coming.’By this time tomorrow I’ll be hours away from the only real home I had’ he took another drag and held it deep in his lungs before exhaling once more. ‘I’m leaving the only real family I have because of this stupid fire power.’ Sanji knew that if he kept on this train of thought he would get frustrated like he did the other night and light the cigarette on fire, so before that happened he stamped out the small flame in the ash tray leaving the rest for later.

Walking over to his dresser he opened the top drawer and pulled all of his under garments out still folded and placed them in his smaller suitcase. When that was emptied he went to the second drawer and pulled a few pairs of sweatpants from the bunch, seeing as he would only need them for workouts and lazy weekends because of his uniform. Next came the third one that had undershirts T-shirts and sweaters of all sorts, looking through he decided to only take a few, Navada is hot most of the time anyway. Sanji continued painfully going drawer after drawer and pulled out what was going with him and leaving what was staying. Once done, he went back to his closet for the more painful process, separating the suits.

As hours pass by, Sanji was finally done with an hour or so of brooding and determined, 'packing sucks.' ‘Why can't I have the power to control inanimate objects’ laying down, defeated on his bed, he reached over for the unfinished cigarette from earlier and went to light it again, he paused when an idea struck him ‘what if I tried to use my power to light it?’ He set his lighter back on the table and tried to concentrate on the burnt outside of the cancer stick, he focused on the heat that it once had, almost hearing the sound of burning paper. Intense staring and concentration led to the smell of smoke wafting up to his nose, but still no flame. Sanji closed his eyes and continued to focus hearing the paper around the of so sweet nicotine burn up and the smell of smoke was more than the smell of cold from the still open window. Just to be sure he continued until he could feel the heat in front of his face before he opened his eyes and when he looked nothing had happened. 

‘What good is this power if I can't even light a smoke with it!’. He mentally cursed and reached for his lighter to light it properly mentally screaming ‘apparently my ability is useless and I’m still a danger to society’ he took in a lung full and exhaled again trying to calm his overworked nerves. ‘At least when I'm 18 people wouldn't have to deal with me anymore, I can hide in a hole and everyone will be safe. Alternatively, I could just be shit at this fire control thing and not be a threat at all.’ It wasn't the heat of his fingers that alerted him to what had happened, it was the pile of ashes on his jeans that had him yelling obscenities and kicking things around. He quickly cleaned his pants and decided that waiting in the living room for his friends might be a better idea.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Nami was the first to arrive, followed by a slightly awkward looking Vivi, who walked in with a bodyguard a few paces behind her. The news had apparently warranted that kind of response, but she wanted to wait till everyone was back in town to share the big secret. Quick hugs and kisses on the hands for his lovely ladies and then back to the door to wait for others.

Sanji never had many friends, but the few that he did have were his best friends and had been since he was about twelve. The next three to join were Franky Patty and Carne, the latter two being fellow cooks at the old man's restaurant. Sanji braced himself for a painful night of goodbyes and lies he would rather not have to tell, closing the door and forcing a genuine looking smile he turned to the his friends who had dropped into a comfortable conversation about what they did over break or how work was with the big snow out last week instantly peaking Nami’s interest.

“Why does all the cool stuff happen while i'm out of town” Sanji heard Nami say with the whiny pout in her voice she only does when disappointed.

“Alright guys so lets get the big news out of the way, Vivi, what did your family tell you?” Sanji asked taking the seat Nami had saved next to hers.

“Well...It’s kinda hard to believe in all honesty” she absent mindedly twirled her hair around a beautifully manicured finger. “I guess I should start with the bodyguard in the corner shouldn't I?” She gestured to the large man with curls the size of soup cans in his hair waiting till all eyes were back on her before continuing. “That is Igaram, he works for Alabasta Royalty and he was tasked to make sure I was safe here for the time being. When I was visiting my not as distant as I had thought family I found out that my father is next in line to take over the thrown.”

“Wait, Vivi are you telling me what I think you are telling me?” Nami cut in when the pause was too long for her liking.

“Yea, I will be a princess when my father takes over the country.” Knowing how her friend would react, she braced herself for the impact and a second later the redheaded money lover came flying over the dining table ending up in her lap.

Pulling the slender teen into her embrace Nami squealed “This is so amazing! I bet the place you were staying at in Alabasta was huge. Tell me you took pictures...” she pouted true to her typical Nami form when money and expensive things were involved.

“Yes, yes, I did Nami" she giggled as the girl in her lap continued to hug a little too tight for her liking. “But aren't we here for Sanji?” she pointed out and Nami let go to look at their shocked friend.

Nami moved from the soon to be princesses lap to look closer at the blond who has some sort of dopey expression on his face. The concern for his well being disappeared when hearts almost literally flew from his eyes like the terms of endearment spewing from his mouth. “Alright Casanova I know dating royalty is like a dream of yours, but cool it!” a surprisingly strong hand held the back of his jacket and Vivi hid a smile behind her hand.

“Ah yes, desole Vivi” he apologized, taking the hand from her face and placing a chaste kiss on the back of her smooth yet sun kissed skin. Every one except Igaram was used to Sanji's flirting, they all knew it was harmless, it was just his way of flattering women. So when he was done acting like a dog in heat they resumed the conversation and Vivi even went through the pictures she took Nami sitter on her lap and God was everything beautiful, the sand was almost white and the sunset had all the colors of the rainbow reminding Sanji of his dream where the auras would mix and calm him down again. The room Vivi stayed in was enormous and the picture apparently did not do it a justice.

“The trim was gold and the chairs felt like I was sitting on clouds” Vivi cooed flipping to the next picture on her phone. “Oh Nami I took this picture because I thought you’d like the dress, ” she said when the next picture came up. It was one of Vivi in some sort of purple dress with jewels that shined in the light of the room. Her midriff was showing because the area was connected with a fine mesh and the skirt hung heavily, but the breeze moved it like a fire burning with life. “The whole dress was made of silk and for as heavy as it looked, felt like being wrapped only in a thin bed sheet”. Sanji swooned over the picture spewing compliments and when Patty or Carne tried to join in saying that she simply had a nice figure Sanji went from adoring servant to big brother at to drop of a hat.

The screaming match that broke out between the three chefs was allowed to continue until Zeff had literally shut their mouths.

“Alright, I'm gonna go outside I’ll be back. Don't play rock band without me” Sanji stated while straightening his crumpled shirt. He opened the back door and disappeared to light up a smoke.

“Bonjour Sanji, comment ca va?” Nami asked, peeking from behind the screen door.

“Salut, ca va bien. Et tu?” Sanji replied, laughing through his exhale of smoke. They had been doing that since they met, she’s part of the reason he was fluent in English as fast as he was.

“Ah, I still don't know much more than how are you so, Je suis d’accord?” she waved the smoke out of her face and gave a sheepish smile.  
“You just said you agree, I assume you ment Ca va bien” they went about correcting each other's language flaws until Sanji was fluent and had a large enough vocabulary to read more than Clifford or the puppy biscuit.

“Yeah, that.” She laughed before looking down at her feet. “So you leave tomorrow?” the redhead asked her covering her face, but tone giving away the disappointment.

“At seven in the morning, yeah” he wasn't stupid, he knew better than to give her fuel to this conversation so he resolved before the party that he would only answer the question she asked out right and to otherwise play dumb.

“Oh, that's gonna be a long ride, right?” she tore her gaze from her shoes to Sanji's face. 

“Thirty two hours driving yep.” Sanji pulled another smoke from his pocket knowing where this conversation was going. 

“I did some research on the school.” She kept looking at his face trying to read anything that may have been amiss, but he was a magnificent liar and even better when it came to wearing a mask, he just knew what people needed to see to trick them. “I couldn't really find anything about the programs they offer, are you sure this is the right school for you?” she asked, figuring that being blunt as always was the case for the trio was the best option.

“They aren’t very well known and only have one official site to keep confusion low. Nami they have a fantastic fight trainer, the cooks there are the best in Nevada and it doubles as a collage that going as a high schooler gets you a full scholarship to.” He rolled off facts Franky had told him that he only knew of because of dinner the other night to make the lie more believable, all of those things are interests or just too good to pass up.

“I know, but” she scrunched up her nose and the v that formed in the crease of her eyes gave away her stress. “I just, there isn't much information about what they specialize in”.Sanji could see that she was struggling to argue about it and felt bad about lying so he did the only thing he knew would work. He put the cigarette out and took her shoulders in his hands and turned her face to his looking right into her eyes.

“Nami, you and Vivi are my best friends I wouldn't do this if it wasn't the right decision” She looked like she wanted to argue, but his eyes had no trace of deceit and she obviously felt defeated. However, her eyes held acceptance while her shoulders were shaking in his steady hands and Sanji pulled her into a full hug one hand in her hair cradling her head, with the other around her small frame. When the moment was over he spoke again. “Mon amie. Je ne veux pas aller, mais je dois aller.” She looked up only understanding part of what he said but seemed to get the message. They walked back into the party with his arm around her waist and her head resting on his shoulder.

“Oh, there you two are!” Vivi bounces up the the two of them, handing Nami a drink that she took gratefully and sipped while walking into the living room to sit. Leaving the slightly shaken Nami in the hands of Vivi, he walked further into the living room to see Franky and Patty setting up rock band and either using the characters that had been saved from other times or making their own. 

The first song they played why Psycho Killer with Franky on guitar, Patty on drum playing horribly might I add, Carne on bass and Sanji singing. That song was almost a tradition because he was the only one who could say all the words right and in key. To be fair, the song had a bit of ring to it and Sanji would often be humming it while cooking. The next group Nami switched with Sanji and Vivi with Patty the girl had wicked beat. They played That's what you get by Paramore and Nami's voice always worked amazingly with that song. They went about switching parts with mainly Nami Sanji and Franky singing because Patty and Carne were just horrible at it and Vivi was too nervous. 

The six of them continued to play rock band arguing of what song to play next and who would play what mostly saying only Sanji and Nami should sing. While the name was rock band there was very little rocking out done when Patty or Carne were to pick the songs all slower rock or easy mode songs. 

Luckily as they were going on to the seventh round therefore seventh song Zeff called them in for dinner, Spicy Seafood and Pasta served with black tea, Sanji’s favorite no matter what Zeff says he's a sentimental old fool, but just this once Sanji isn't going to hold it over his head ‘maybe I will later in life’ he thought taking a seat to the right of Nami in between her and Carne. Vivi is sitting across Nami currently passing the plate to Igaram sitting at the opposite end of the table from Zeff. Seeing as how everyone in this house either doesn't talk much or as eaten here before and knows how the Black family is with food silence was the only sound during a particularly depressing dinner. Sanji was more than grateful for the quiet because it means he didn't have to lie like he did with Nami earlier a hard feat to accomplish. Dinner finished the way it always does with a thank you form the guest and a fight between the four cooks mostly Sanji telling Zeff that he would one day be better, while Carne and Patty laughed their foot shaped bruised asses to the couch.

“Alright, who's up for a movie” Nami says cheerfully holding up three of the main crews favorites 

“I'm in!” Vivi jumps up to talk with Nami about what they should watch first  
Shortly after a small argument that told what Nami really meant was sit your sorry asses down, it’s movie time they sat down to watch the newest obsession Kingsmen accompanied with jokes about how Sanji likes to pretend he's as cool as the main character. It was about nine o’clock when the movie ended and Franky had already retired to Sanji's room to crash for the night Patty and Carne declared that it was late and that because they were opening the restaurant tomorrow, so they had to leave before they passed out leaving Nami Vivi and Igaram who were most likely staying the night anyway.

“So one more movie?” Vivi asked with a weak smile

“yeah, just one more?” Nami pleaded with Sanji's tired eyes. He knew he had to drive tomorrow, but knowing that only reminded him that this was the last time he would see them till summer and before he even processed the thought he was nodding his head. Nami picked the movie that they had dubbed their movie from the shelf and put it in. Nami and Vivi settled into a comfortable position while Sanji went to get popcorn with extra butter. When he returned Vivi sat with her head on Nami’s shoulder and Sanji settled his head onto the pillow on Nami’s lap and put the popcorn on the one and only flat chest in the room, his.

“You know we are the weirdest friends ever.” Nami said as she took a handful of popcorn.

“How so?” Vivi asked, stealing a piece from Nami’s hand, earning a kick to the ankle from the fiery redhead.

“Well, who else watches terrible B movies as a form of entertainment?” Nami asked while chipmunking popcorn.

“Hey! Percy Jackson and the sea of monsters is not a B movie!” Sanji argues, while wiping extra butter from his hands to his already ash stained jeans.

Nami flicked his head saying “Have you seen the reviews on rotten tomatoes? It’s a B movie.” she leaned back against the back of the couch as though resting her case, while Vivi giggled and snuggled closer to her friends. It only took halfway into the movie before three of them were softly snoring using each other for warmth with Igaram snoozing discreetly in the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guys this one was hard to write but its here and things are starting to pick up when he gets to Ohara. As always I live for feedback to feel free to comment tell me what you like or hate and I also love to hear what you think will happen so yea thanks to my Boyfriend for Beta reading for me.


	6. Chapter 5: Of Friends and Foe?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has taken a while to put up because of personal issues I just wanted to apologize for a long wait. I hope you all had happy holidays.

The drive to Ohara was not as bad as Sanji thought it was going to be, no, in actuality it was worse. It didn't take long to learn how Franky coming along meant they got cheaper gas because at the first gas station he spent fifteen minutes talking to the gas pump. On top of the fact that whenever anyone else was driving the crazy blue haired man had to tell them what was hurting the car and that riding the break is like skinning your knees for cars. So yes, it was classified as the worst car trip ever. 

Zeff would have his good leg cramp up and need to stop more and every time they did Franky found some new machine to talk to, for another fifteen minutes. Stopping for food was a disaster with two cooks in the car and mainly truck stop food available it was egregious. The burgers were to greasy the sandwiches to dry and were on cardboard instead of bread.

The truck had a backseat and when one wasn't driving or giving Zeff directions they could sleep if you could tune out the horrible music the driver put on. To make matters worse Sanji couldn't even enjoy his own time driving between Zeff yelling about his space between cars and Franky yelling something about abusing the breaks, he was sure that if it weren't for the ring he would have burnt the car down after the first ten hours of driving.

After days of driving, shitty gas station food and dingy motel rooms they made it to Ohara or well Navada. When they were finally within the state they needed to give the keys to Franky seeing as the entrance changed since Zeff attend and Sanji had about the same idea as Zeff did to enter the compound which is to say not a clue.  


“This is it the new and improved Ohara” Franky said, pulling onto a slightly rocky road surrounded by the greenest grass Sanji had seen since they entered the state. The campus was enormous and the buildings were equally as daunting in size. Large white buildings and one that was covered floor to ceiling with windows and inside was nothing but greens, Sanji could see all sorts of plants as they drove by ‘that must be the greenhouse’ he thought though why they would have a greenhouse he's not entirely sure.

“So because you’re new here eggplant and they don't know where to put ya they have a special house placement for undeclared majors or people with abilities they still have to define and that’s the biggest rooming house of them all seeing as most people show up freshman year confused as all hell” Zeff said as they pulled into a parking space in front of what looked liked a large apartment complex.

“Major? I'm in high school old man, do they do that this early?” Sanji asked, turning to look at his adoptive father sitting in the back seat.

“No bro, you pick a specialty for your abilities to focus on, that way you can channel your power into learning something and perfecting something with it” Franky laughed taking the key out of the ignition gently. “This here in front of us is the undecided dorm. People who have no clue what they actually are or don't know what to study with their powers live here, that means it’s mostly high schoolers who don't want to commit to a real study regimen.” he slapped Sanji on the shoulder and laughed loudly

“I happen to know some extremely dedicated students living in this dormitory, Cutty Flam.” Ms. Niko declared appearing out of nowhere as she seemingly materialized by Franky's window.

“Come on Robin, I told ya I go by Franky now.” the large mechanic protested.

“I know i'm just teasing as old friends do Franky.” She placed a tender hand on his shoulder and leaned forward to look at Sanji. “I trust the drive here was not too horrible?” she said thought it was clear she meant it as a question.

“Could have been worse” Sanji lied because honestly the only thing worse that could have happened was all blue breaking down.

“Good it’s nice to hear that things were pleasant on your way here” She smiled knowingly. “Well, I’ll leave you to your unpacking. Here, your apartment number is 17 the room is number 2 and Bon Kurei is your room mate he's quite a lively one I'm sure you’ll find.” She handed him the key and disappeared from the car in a cover of pedals.

“Well, I guess I’ll get to unloading the boxes” Sanji said with a sigh and opened the bed to his truck to carry his three suitcases and three boxes up to his new room. His new apartment was fairly big for a dorm, but small enough to still be called cozy, it had flower pots and pictures that made it look like a fancy hotel room and looking around, he saw three doors, one door marked one and the other marked two the third he assumed was the bathroom and his assumptions were proved correct as a bouncy brunette came barreling out of there. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Sanji.

“Are you the new guy?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“What’s it to you?” Sanji asked defensively, holding the box in his arms tighter to his chest.

“I live in room one, with Buggy,” the teen said with a cheek-splitting grin.

“Okay, well yeah I'm the new guy I guess” Sanji hasn't had to do this in years and just in this moment, remembered how much he hated introductions, he was socially awkward when it came to making new friends.

“Awsome! I’m Luffy I'm a rubber man and I can't wait for you to meet my friends” The boy ‘Luffy’ beamed extending his hand farther than a normal person should and Sanji took it while balancing the box on his half raised leg. ‘Well, that went better than I thought it would’

“Nice to meet you I’m Sanji “. He walked over to set the box on the clearly unowned bed in room two and then went back to the living room where the boy was still standing and smiling like a lunatic. “Well, I have to get the rest of my stuff up here I guess I’ll see ya around” and with that he went back to his truck; or at least tried to. 

Another slightly smaller teen almost pre-teen boy came quite literally rolling up to him clearly having been pushed. “H-h-hello” the dusty blond boy whispered, obviously nervous, and that Sanji could deal with, being all too familiar with social phobias he's lucky he hasn't slipped into French yet.

“Hi, I'm Sanji, I'm the new student from Michigan what’s your name?” he asked, crouching down to the smaller boy's level; which was admittedly lower than he would have to go for most freshmen.

“My name is Tony but everyone here calls me Chopper” when he spoke, he was quiet, almost mumbling and if it weren't for that fact the room seemed to be empty, he wouldn't have heard the poor creature. He was about to say he had stuff to bring in and that he would love to get to know the little guy a bit better when the brunette from before fell down the stairs bouncing and laughing saying something about Usopp being an ace he wasn't really sure what the madman was saying.

“Luffy!! You are gonna kill yourself, stop jumping from the top stair!” the small one yelled, ‘he actually yelled, okay maybe he's just shy around strangers’. Sanji looked from Chopper to Luffy and back only to see that Chopper was gone and in his place a small furry racoon.

“Um, what happened to the other boy” Sanji asked extremely confused.

“What other boy” the furry thing said, turning to the blond. He must have realized what was wrong because within seconds the furry creature became Chopper. “Oh yeah, sorry I forget sometimes that I'm pretty rare. I am a werewolf, but I was deer first so when I was bitten by a werewolf I became a wolf, human, deer isn't it cool!” Chopper smiled and shifted through all of his forms right before Sanji's eyes.

‘This is crazy, I can't handle this’ not seconds after the thought crossed his mind was he out the front door and hiding in his almost fully unloaded car. ‘Zeff and Franky must have brought my stuff in and I missed them. Dammit!’.

He waited a few minutes and then sat back in the passenger seat ‘Why am I hiding? I don't hide I've never done that.’

“Well to be fair you’ve never seen a were deer either and that's not an uncommon reaction” a timid voice said from a foot or so away from the car.

“Oh, sorry I didn't realize I said that out loud” Sanji said suddenly embarrassed, but doing well not to let it show

“You probably didn't. I'm still learning how to not get into people's head sorry about that. My name is Usopp King” a curly haired kid about Sanji's age extended his hand through the open window and Sanji gently shook it.

“Oh yeah, I'm Sanji Black, I really don't normally freak out like that, but this is all really, really new to me” Sanji let go of the Ussops hand to open the truck door and swung his long legs out. “So you hear my thoughts?” Sanji asked, quirking an eyebrow

“yeah, I normally can control it, but with so many frantic thoughts from Chopper and now I guess you. I couldn't tell who I should tune into to limit it” Usopp said scratching his neck awkwardly.

“Tune in? What does that mean?” The blond asked finally calming down a bit more.

“Yea, because I can't turn it off I zero in on one person most of the time, but my roommate is asleep and I’d rather not get his dreams floating around in my head, his new ones are just weird.” He laughed and took a seat on the ground next to the car. “Yeah, so where are you from? I tried to tune into someone that knows about my ability after I realized it was you I was picking up from.”

“I drove here from Bay City, Michigan, and I really don't want to spend another thirty two hours in the car with Zeff and Franky, ” Sanji joked feeling more confident after knowing someone around here gets his situation. “Where are you from?”

“Well, I was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but raised in Dallas after my mother passed away” the curly haired boy dropped his head in silence, what Sanji assumed was respect for his mother. “Anyway, shortly after my abilities came in one of the teachers here found me and signed me up for classes they gave me a place to stay during the school year.The dorms can be crazy but the people here mean well”. The smile on the younger teens face was the brightest Sanji had seen all day except maybe the rubber maniacs and something about it was infectious, so soon he was smiling and laughing at a story that was being told about giant fish in Texas the size of a house, and how The Great Captain Usopp had slain it single handedly. 

“You know you’re something else Usopp; you made this shitty day a little bit better, thanks” Sanji said smiling a genuine smile

Usopp picked himself off the concrete parking lot clutching his aching sides and somewhere in between declarations of pain and laughing said “Not a problem, it’s what I the Great Captain Usopp does” before he fell to the ground laughing again making Sanji laugh a bit harder.

“Hey Usopp!!” The bouncy teen from before yelled as he walked out the front door. “Oh look, you found him!” he ran over to the curly haired man and practically jumped on him, the other teen seemed to be used to it and just let it happen but clearly not enjoying it.

“Yea, and stop jumping on people Luffy, one day someone is gonna sock ya for it” Usopp said pushing the boys face away from his own. “What do you want anyway?”

“I can't find Ace, he was supposed to take me out to the arcade” the teen whined

“Maybe he fell asleep” Usopp said, giving up on trying to pry the other boy from his face

“Oh, ” he let go of Usopp's face, “Well, where’s Zoro then he can take me?”

“He’s still asleep, and don't wake him it’s the only day he’s had off all vacation!” Usopp cut him off before he even began to refute.”And I’m the one that has to deal with it so no it’s not a good idea”.

Luffy pouts and then makes a strange contorted face before his eyes lit up “You guys can take me to the arcade!” he exclaimed as if it was the best idea ever

“Whoa whoa whoa, Sanji's been here all of forty five minutes he hardly knows us! He hasn't even seen more than two rooms of the Undecided Dorm” Usopp pipes up waving his hands dramatically. “Hey, we should show him around!”

“Yosh let’s do it!” Luffy declares excitedly and looks around for a place to start.

“Are you okay with that Sanji?” Usopp asks, trying to make his friend's enthusiasm a bit less strange. Sanji looks around and notices that Zeff and Franky are talking with someone Sanji unsurprisingly doesn't know. 

“Yeah, just give me a second my old man's over there and I want to know what his plan is for now.” He closes the car door that had been open since he and Usopp started talking and walked over to his adoptive father and apparently new teacher. “Hey old man I’m going with those two to see the school, you cool with that?” he asks only for courtesy purposes because he and Zeff both know he’s going to do it anyway.

“Whatever Eggplant, I’m on my way to the kitchen anyway. Remember, I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon with the portal things they have now, new magic and what not” he says tugging at his mustache.

“Portals? Like you walk through it and end up somewhere else? Why didn't we use one to get here in the first place!” Sanji seethed.

“You think I know!! Shitty Eggplant go ask Robin or the rubber thing over there” Zeff argued

“Whatever geezer I’ll see ya later” Sanji huffed walking back to his car and his two new friends he guessed that's what they were and the small racoon boy trying to hide but doing it a little strange, like backwards strange. “Umm, what is he doing?”

“Oh, that’s Chopper. Hey Chopper you should come on the tour with us!” Luffy yelled even though the boy was three feet away from him.

“That sounds like a great idea! Chopper you can show him where the med wing is, he might be just like Zoro and Luffy and get hurt all the time” Usopp snipes and was quick to dodge the foot aimed for his head “Watch it man! It was just a joke, ” he squeaked from behind Luffy who was howling with laughter.

“Oh, he's awesome! Zoro is going to like him” Luffy declares through bits of laughter 

“If he doesn't cut him to shreds first” Chopper said, looking over a still crouching Usopp complaining about a completely made up disease. “Where are we going to go on the tour first?” He chirps once his friend is deemed okay. 

“Oooh, let’s go to the kitchen!!!” Luffy bellows bouncing up and down and being made of rubber he bounced pretty high.

“No Luffy you aren't even allowed in there outside of mealtimes” Usopp replied with a sigh. He apparently sees something that sparks an idea of where to start “You still have an ability blocking jewel?” He asks pointing to the glowing ring. “We should show you Ms. Nikos office and you can give it back”.

“Alright, that sounds like a good place to start I guess” Sanji twists the ring around on his finger and finally pulls it free. “Well, let’s go give this back then, ” he holds it up and follows the three boys to what he assumes is a courtyard.

Luffy excitedly points out buildings that are used for different things and Usopp corrects him when he calls them the wrong thing or straight up says something not normal, Usopp has dubbed his friends explanations“Luffy-anise”. There are a lot of specialized buildings here Sanji noted, and they are not small either, he can't understand why they would need two gym buildings the size of a football stadium. 

“Hey guys, why do you have two gymnasiums?” he asked because he would have that stuck in his head an never remember anything else after that if it was not explained now.

Chopper excitedly explains that the older one is not as resistant to the beatings that the students give them making a point to look at Luffy who just laughs as Usopp rolls his eyes. “Also the new one has a pool and more personal shower rooms” he adds.

“Is the one in the old gym from like the 60s where everyone would shower together or something,” Sanji asks smirking

“Actually, yes” Chopper chirps pleased Sanji got it. “It’s just a big bath house with shower heads”.

“Wait really? I'm glad they build a new gym then,” Sanji said with a note of surprise.

“It’s still in use, but most of the time they use it for detention,” Usopp says confidently “We're here, this is the office building”.

In front of them was one of the large white buildings and this one had light beige double doors with silver handles and a paging system like most apartments would have.

“Press the one that say Robin Niko” Chopper says jumping to Sanji's side enthusiastically, he presses the button and listens to the faint buzzing while waiting for someone to open the door. Within seconds the door creaks open and Ms. Nikos face appears behind it.

“Hello, I was just returning the ring you forgot to take it this morning” Sanji says, holding the ring out to her, she takes it and pockets the ring with a thank you.

“I see you made some friends already, that’s wonderful news, ” she says with a cat like smile. “Chopper here is one of our most promising medical students”.

“That doesn't make me happy you jerk” the younger teen squeals and much to Sanji's surprise, she just laughs and scoops him into a hug squeezing tight. “Put me down, ” he giggles wrapping his arms around her neck. ‘That’s not normal teacher-student behavior’ Sanji thinks beyond confused.

“Chopper is a lot younger than most of the students here” Usopp says by way of explanation. “He's only thirteen and--- you didn't say that out loud did you?” he asks and Sanji simply shakes his head ‘This is going to take some getting used to’ he looks to Usopp and the boy just says “It normally does” Sanji sighed turning his attention back to Chopper and Ms. Niko.

“Ms. Niko pulled some strings to get me here earlier than most kids” Chopper declares now being free from her hug.

“He has an ability most people can't control and because he is such a special case I could not just leave him alone” Ms. Niko says, leaning against the door frame. “So what are you doing right now anyway, other than returning the ring?” she asks with a tilt of her head.

“Oh! We are showing him around!” Luffy yells from behind them and it startles Sanji whose hair turns to fire momentarily, before changing back to its natural blond color. “Wow! That's cool! Can you do it again!” Luffy asks in awe.

“I can't control it, that’s kinda why I'm here Luffy” Sanji replies through gritted teeth.

“Well Ace figured out quickly how to turn into fire completely” Luffy said with a face splitting grin.

“I don't think it’s the same Luffy” Chopper says quietly with a thoughtful expression. “His hair was just covered in flame Ace turns into the fire itself”.

“I noticed that as well” Robin said, flicking her eyes between Chopper and Sanji. “I don't think he is a fire sprite, he might be an element soldier”.

“What’s that?” Sanji asks extremely confused

“It would mean that you are part of the fire community like Sabo. There are four element communities, fire, water, air, and earth,” Chopper explained quickly 

“You will have plenty of time to learn about the powers around here in the upcoming days” Robin interjected “Why don't you continue looking around the school for a bit, best not to overwhelm you with information before school even starts”.

Sanji was about to protest when Chopper suggested they go see the medical wing, well more like demanded while rambling about the stuff they have there and the things he was learning. Ms. Niko gave Chopper a hug and a gentle wave to the others and the group of four went off in what Sanji supposed was the way to the medical center on campus.  
Sanji is only half listening to the conversation, he was thinking about element soldiers and what he could possibly be. When he tuned back in Chopper was in the middle of talking about his classes and Sanji had no idea what he was talking about. “So my classmate is another one of the most talented med students here, but he's in college”.

“You mean law right?” Usopp asked, ignoring the shout of “Traffy” that fell from Luffy's mouth in an excited manner, Chopper nodded and decided to let Luffy take over the explanation of “Traffy” as he put it. All Sanji managed to get from the rubber man’s fast talking was that he was another doctor which Sanji already knew since Chopper had been talking about his classmates, specifically a med student in college. They continued to walk while Luffy went on and on about his friend Traffy, who Usopp had given up trying to convince Luffy that his name was Law. They were almost at the medical center when they were stopped by a slightly older looking teen with weird hair, and weird was an understatement. ‘Who uses a number as inspiration for a hair style’ Sanji wondered trying not to stare.

“Not going to introduce me to your new friend straw hat?” The teen with weird hair asked, turning his nose up at the idea of it anyway.

“Oh, this is Sanji” Luffy replied, grinning like an idiot “Sanji this is Three.” Well, at least now his hair made a bit more sense.’

“For the last time straw hat my name is Galdino!” he shouted back to an unphased Luffy. “And your friend parts his hair weird, it’s covering his eye like an emo kid.”

‘I have weird hair? Also, emo that's not something to joke about’ Sanji thought, trying to bite his tongue the last thing he wants is to make enemies before school even starts.

Sanji's holding his tongue was mistaken for fear and Galdino decided to pick on him again. “Look what he's wearing those black jeans look horrible, it makes him look like a twig. I could crush him in seconds” he sneered.

Sanji continued to ignore his jibes and just stood there, his face unchanging from his initial annoyed expression. The teasing continued and Usopp tried to tell the other man to knock it off while Chopper hid behind a loudly laughing Luffy. ‘Does that rubber brat thinks it’s funny to bully people!?’ his mind was racing now trying to stay calm and proving a much harder task than he had thought it would be.

Sanji was thinking of all the things going on, all the things he has to deal with in the next few days and adding bullies to the list was just too much. ‘I was hoping this would be different’ he mentally cursed; shooting a glare Luffy's way. Turning back, he caught Usopp’s pleading eyes that flicked from Sanji back to Luffy. It took a moment before Sanji realized what he was trying to communicate. Usopp had read his thoughts ‘That's a mildly disturbing thing on its own’ Usopp rolled his eyes proving he was still in Sanji's head, he was trying to tell him Luffy just did not understand it.

Sanji normally wouldn't have believed it, but Luffy was just so innocent.  
“Don't even get me started on his ridiculous eyebrows” He laughed again clearly trying to pick a fight for what purpose none of them knew, one of them is so dense as to not even know he was intentionally being mean. Sanji was doing his best to keep cool, but his eyebrows were always a sensitive subject, being bullied for them in middle school made them something he wanted to hide.The fact that they go in the same direction was only between him and Zeff not even Nami knew about that.

“Okay, knock it off you are pissing me off” Sanji warned as cool as he possibly could let out a calming breath.

“Or what? are you going to fight me?” Galdino taunted creating a wax figure of Sanji's eyebrow and smashing it to bits. The flames that licked at Sanji's neck grew with each taunt giving away his irritation.

“Look, knock it off, I'm warning you, ” he repeated, all of his new friends standing behind him. Luffy had stopped laughing, realizing now that Three had hurtful intentions and his new friend was upset.

“Oh, I'm shaking in my boots, ” he quipped pointing to a pair of wax boots he made just for that joke. There was a second of irritation before Sanji reached his peak and burst into flames, hot enough to send Luffy and the others running, Usopp even went stumbling over a tree root. The boots melted and even Three himself started to melt like the wicked witch in water. 

“I told you to stop dumbass” Sanji growled only just getting his flames to simmer enough to where his hair was where most of the fire was. Three, as Luffy had called him stood perfectly still in shock and slightly stuck to the floor. Sanji remained where he was with his blond hair blazing and his eyes glowing like fire, he turned to the wax man and glared, quickly realizing he was in danger he managed to unstick himself and ran. “Where was the gym again?” Sanji asked.

Usopp picked himself up from the ground, brushing off dirt and turned to the irritated blond who was more of a strawberry blond at the moment with fire highlighting shades of red.

“The gym is off that way, ” he directed, pointing at a large building to the left of them decently far away from the current spot. “Thank you for understanding about him,” he said quietly and tilted his head in Luffy's direction.

“Not a problem I worked with bigger idiots before I got here, but I have to go work off this anger. I’ll see you guys later?” Sanji sighed barely containing his rage.

“You are going to be okay, right?” Chopper asked, voice sounding as small as Sanji had heard it only an hour before.

Bending down to his level Sanji reassured him, “I’ll be fine, I just have to go work out for a bit, ” he said, patting Chopper on the shoulder as he stood back to his full height. 

“Lunch is at one we’ll see ya then” Luffy announced as Sanji turned and began running to the gym, the only evidence that he had heard the rubber boy being a wave over his shoulder.


	7. Chapter 6: Strange conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took forever to get up, but I am so happy to put out for you. I want to thank someone who helped me get motivated to fix all of my errors and pay closer attention. You all have probably seen them around here a lot RyuichiSakuma really inspired me to get better. So thank you for that, and thank you to all of you who are reading this, it really makes my day when I get comments :). As alway con-crit is welcomed, if you don't tell me what to fix I can't get better now can I?

Chapter 6: Strange conversations  
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‘Just keep calm until I can kick the shit out of something’ Sanji repeated in his head, taking deep breaths until he reached the gym building, it was a single story building isolated from the others with a football field of space between it and the school. 

The door was unlocked and the lights were off, but the sun reflected off of nicely polished training mats, it lit up the room enough for him to locate the practice dummies next to a large gymnastics floor. 

Stripping off his white t-shirt, he hung it around his neck and crossed an arm over his chest feeling a familiar pull in his overly stressed muscles. He continued to stretch his arms while walking to the unfortunate dummy he was going to beat to dust. 

Taking a few short minutes that felt like an eternity to a highly strung Sanji, he stretched his legs with basic stretches pulling his feet up behind him one at a time for a quad stretch then moving to a typical hamstring and calf stretch. ‘Jeans are horrible to work out it’ he mused after trying to do the splits, he threw the shirt around his neck to the floor and jumped to a fighting position, his legs comfortably shoulder width apart and his hands resting comfortably in his pockets alongside his forgotten cigarettes. 

The dummy in front of him was just like the many behind it, a vaguely human-shaped black rubber doll on a stick. The arms were sliced and falling apart already while the body was littered with scuff marks and scratches, clearly this was used and repaired past its retirement point. The first kick aimed at the chest made a dull thud from the rubber soles of his shoes hitting a rubber dummy, the force of his kick knocked it back a few feet into the other training dolls. 

Sanji locked his left knee and leaned his weight onto his right leg preparing a spin kick; his jeans restricting it to half the power it normally would have. He landed the hit, but the result was not near as satisfying as he had hoped.

“Damn pants,” he cursed and kicked out again, sending rapid fire kicks at the dummy, but again, his kicks lacked normal their power. The sound of his leg cutting air was a dull whoosh instead of the usual high pitched whine. 

Dropping into a handstand, he aimed for the head of the doll using two hands to spin and balance, he forced his muscles to stretch into a perfect split performing one of his favorite moves quasi, his pants groaned with the stretch in the fabric but he continued to push their limits. The dummy wobbled but still would not fall a sign of a good practice object.

He did his best to imagine the face of the idiot who had pissed him off and put all his feeling into his kicks, which turned out to be a bad idea because they sent the dummy flying and toppling over several of the ones it flew into.

“Oh shit!” Sanji stood panting before he went to the disaster of a gym room he caused. When he got to the pile of dummies the smell of burning rubber assaulted his nose. “Oh double shit!” The one he had been using had a footprint melted into its chest. Looking down to his foot he saw his black jeans were burnt off up to his knee on his right leg, leaving tattered stands with burnt fabric rubbing his skin.

“Fuck,” he groaned and dropped to the foam mat covered in leather head hitting, loud enough to make a small thump. ‘Well, this brings back memories’ he thought has he tried to calm his breathing.

“What the hell did you do?!” A deep voice yelled from somewhere in the room. “Dammit, I just cleaned this up!”

“Sorry,” Sanji sighed, moving to a sitting position. “I didn't think it would fly that far”. Fight temporarily out of his system he turns to face the newest problem on his ever growing list.

The other teen in sweatpants and a hoodie even in this heat moved to clean up the mess Sanji had made. Under all of the baggy clothing, you couldn't tell anything more than his height and the bandanna covering his head concealed the hair color as well, leaving Sanji to guess everything else. 

Sanji stood to walk over and help clean up his mess and he knew he wasn't imagining the tenseness in the other teens posture as he approached.

“Look I've got it blondie, just leave” the other teen offered with a slow exhale, clearly a relaxation technique ‘he must be really pissed’ Sanji felt bad for causing problems.

Sanji moved to kneel by the pile of dummies and inspect the one he brutally damaged. “Let me help, I did make the mess.” When no reply came, he looked back up to see a well-defined face with piercing hazel eyes glaring at him as if he had insulted his mother or something. 

Normally he would understand this kids irritation, a new guy came in a undid his hard work but those eyes were just hostile. Hazel and piercing, as if he could cut steel with a simple look.

Something stirred in him and Sanji sent a glare that almost mirrored the sour teen, knowing he had caused the problem didn't stop him from fighting back. His Ocean blue eyes sent a silent challenge, that one look said “I'm not afraid of you”

“Why don't you go away,” the other asked impatiently, turning his eyes away in frustration.

“Do you have any manners? You don't even know my name and yet here you are treating me like a long lost rival, I said sorry!” Sanji snarled baring his teeth.

Standing up the abused doll the teen walked to get what looked like cleaning supplies“I don't care, I have a job to do and you made me have to do it again,” he sprayed water from a bottle on the doll and wiped it away with a clearly overused towel.

“Your false calm is annoying me bandana boy” Sanji mumbled, standing to be on equal ground.

“Are you looking for a fight?” the other challenged dropping the cleaning supplies near the doll.

He couldn't help it something about this other kid was getting on Sanji's nerves and he bragged “You think you could take me on? I'm a savate champion” before he could stop himself. All he got was an answering smirk before a fist was flying to his face, it was countered with Sanji's foot and he propelled himself backward in an attempt to control the fighting grounds.

The bandana boy in sweat clothes had a decent fighting stance, but the blond knew from the start not to underestimate an opponent, he threw an assessment kick to see where the levels stood between the two. 

A step to the left and the kick missed its target by a fraction of an inch. “Now that we are done throwing easy kicks let really fight!” the dark green hoodie flew to the far wall revealing a toned six pack and bulging arm muscles. 

‘So this will be a real challenge’, Sanji smirked and prepared to give this annoyance all he could take. He charged him, but did not swing first merely dodging the left hook and kicking the bodybuilder lightly in the calf, Sanji knew better than to aim to maim so until he knew what would and would not put this kid in the infirmary he had to drastically increase his power. 

“I said quit holding back!” the other yelled and managed to kick Sanji in the ribs hard enough that it would surely bruise, it was a warning. The blond recovered using the force of the blow to send him into a back handspring and quickly directing a whip kick straight at the other.

A loud smack echoed in the room as shoe hit skin and a grunt broke from the bandana boys mouth but he still stood. ‘That move would have knocked down most people’ Sanji noted and turned up the power sending a barrage of quick kicks as painful as bullets to the chest. 

As blows were exchanged they put more force into each hit until it was deemed safe to put everything but killing intent into the fight. Neither aimed for the face, however, both would be covered in nasty bruises Sanji would have to be in pants for a while. 

The other teen clearly knew what he was doing, but still something seemed off, he moved fluidly but every now and then he repositioned as if noticing his own error. His hands were lightly balled into a fist and he would tighten them, then stretch them as if he should be holding something. Sanji took note that his opponent was most likely a weapons user, what weapon what the question, though. 

A fist was dodged and a kick was sent, again it was dodged. ‘Seems we are both good on defense’ he noted again making a log as to help find a weakness. 

Sanji aimed several kicks the upper chest and as he suspected the arms went to a certain point only to be quickly rerouted to protect the target area with his forearms. “What weapon do you use?” he asked, smirking tilting his head to the others loosely balled fists. The blond held back from attacking and the other teen let his hands fall back to his sides, still in a wary stance.

“I use katanas, it’s a type of sword” he replied squaring up to attack again. Bandana boy lunged at Sanji and managed a rather forceful blow to his exposed side, ‘That will hurt for a few days’ he groaned internally.

“Thank you for insulting my intelligence” Sanji scoffed barely managing to cover a cough from the hit. “I know what a katana is”. He focused his weight to favor his now injured side, defending another blow of the same force with his leg. 

“Well, if we are pointing out odd behaviors, then why don't you use your hands?” the other asked, mimicking Sanji's stance with his hands in the pockets of his oversized sweats while also mocking Sanji's earlier head tilt.

“I use Savate” Sanji reviled and attacked again landing the hit just barely. “What hand do you hold your sword with?” he asked, he noticed that the other did not seem to have a dominate fighting hand.

Another fist flew at Sanji's face and was dodged, “I use both”.

The fight turned more casual and really it was just a conversation with harsh hits, Sanji explained how Savate worked as the other asked more questions, clearly interested in martial arts in all forms.

They seemed fairly equal in strength, granted only when you compared Sanji's legs to the others arms. Before long it became the strangest game of twenty questions ever played, after every hit the reward for it was to ask a question, this was the weirdest fight Sanji had ever been in.

Sanji hardly had any reason to want to know the guy, it was almost as if asking the most questions was a sort of competition, let’s see who can beat the crap out of the other and know more about them at the same time.

One kick to the calf and the other teen stumbled a bit, they had been at this for a while ‘His endurance is impressive’ Sanji noted. “Alright, so what’s you name?” he asked in between heavy breaths.

“Zoro,” was the curt response and Sanji was kicked on his uninjured side as Zoro asked, “and yours?” By this point, they were out of breath panting hard and sweaty enough to be stuck to the mats when bare skin slapped against it. Sanji fell back, relaxing his stance, he wasn't giving up, but he really did not want broken bones. Luckily Zoro read the posture and stopped as well, an unspoken draw was called.

Zoro sat down on the cool mats with a sigh of relief, he jumped slightly when he heard a thump where the blond had been standing, the other teen had decided that laying down was a better option apparently. 

Sanji looked over from his spot on the mat at Zoro and decided he should, at least, answer the question, “My name is Sanji, by the way”.

The other worn out teen hummed in understanding, and then a comfortable silence filled the room and Sanji appreciated that. The smell of gym floor mats, sweat, and strong cleaning products, was a comfort Sanji had not expected to find this soon. 

He closed his eyes, feeling the forming bruises on his legs and side. He breathed deeply through his nose to take in the smell he associated with childhood, ‘such a bittersweet time’.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
\--------Luffy and the others --------

“Lunch is at one we’ll see ya then” Luffy called to the running figure, Sanji waved over his shoulder not bothering to turn around.

“Well, that could have gone a lot better” Usopp noted offhandedly, “What was up with three anyway? He normally doesn't pick on the new guys.” Luffy and Chopper only nodded in agreement, eager to put the whole situation behind them.

Luffy brought a hand to his chin in his very rarely seen thinking pose, “Maybe he was cranky because he’s hungry?” he mused. Chopper jumped on board with that theory, adding that he might not have had enough candy. After that it was deemed a solved case, a regular Sherlock and Watson those idiots were.

The three of them walked back to the Undecided Dormitory and resigned themselves to lounging around in the large entry room, it was quieter than it normally was with how many people went home for the holidays. However, Luffy's voice echoed when he entered the room yelling, as he always did.

The stairs that went up either side encasing the room in a rounded perimeter gave the place a cozy feel, the furniture and decorations made it seem like a teen hangout. Luffy had dubbed it the dorms “oval office” it was a harmless thing they had let it be, in hindsight that was not the wisest of decisions, the name was quickly adopted by other energetic students.

Luffy sat perched on the sill of a large picture window that looked out over the trees, from there you could see other dorms and the lake in the distance. If you needed to find Luffy he was in the cafeteria, his room or, this window sill, his “captain's seat” in the Undecided Dorms “Oval office”.

Chopper was resting on an old brown armchair that was worn into a comfortable state and even had a perfect groove for a tiny rear to fill. His feet swung off the edge of the chair as he was sitting sideways and he pulled out an old Gameboy color and turned on his favorite game, Zelda Link’s Awakening. 

The rest of the inhabitants of this dorm were either unpacking things from their trips home or bragging about not having to do so, the latter being insults and taunts yelled over Mario kart between Absalom and Kaku. 

Luffy's laugh and the noises accompanied by quiet curses from people playing games were the typical soundtracks for this dorm, they were dubbed the rowdiest and most obnoxious but they were more fun than most of the other dorms.

“Yep, this is home” a gruff but unmistakable voice called from the large open doors, Usopp turned around to see who was back. Hatchan walked in holding two duffel bags his was yellow and the other was green. Within seconds, the owner of the second bag had jumped onto Ussops lap and pulled him into a crushing hug.

“Sorry, Camie really missed you guys while we were away,” Hatchan said dropping the green bag to the side. 

Luffy bounced from his favorite spot and jumped on his back as soon as the bag hit the floor. “How was it? Did you guys get to do everything you wanted to?” he asked excitedly, his mouth watering as food and sweets were described in great detail.

Usopp hugged the girl in his arms back after what he will always say was a manly sound of surprise, not at all the girly shriek the others called it. 

She pulled away and brought her hands up in front of her face, and signed “Where is Zoro?”

“He was asleep last I knew” Usopp answered signaling while he spoke, she nodded and moved off of his lap with a smile. 

She jumped to her feet excitedly and signed “I'm going to unpack” and turned to get her bag, her swaying shoulder length green hair and puppy dog brown eyes complimenting her ever-present smile.

“ Oh wait, we should introduce you to Sanji,” Luffy said jumping up and down. Camie was mute not deaf so she could hear, but understanding Luffy was an art on its own, so Usopp signed it while repeating what was said for the benefit of others around them.

She nodded her head and signed that she would just put her bag in her room, Camie grabbed her bag and ran up the left side stairs. She had a game she liked to play with new students, where she would pretend to be deaf, it always got a few laughs after the fact.

When the thought crossed her mind, she couldn't help but be excited to play it again, Usopp heard that thought loud and clear as she hurried to her room. This was going to be interesting.

He turned his focus to Hatchan who was currently arm wrestling with Luffy for some reason Usopp had missed, “Are you going with us?” he asked distracting the older teen and consequently helping Luffy win.

“Nah, I promised some friends that I would help with training for the exams” he mumbled, massaging out the pain in his right hand. “I’ll meet this new kid some other time”.

“Okay, well Chopper are you coming too?” the young teen nodded, he was still playing his Gameboy and was very focused, so much so that his tongue was sticking out. Luffy had since moved behind the younger boy to watch and much to Choppers annoyance, loudly cheer him on.

They figured that starting where Sanji had gone off to after the incident with three was a good idea, but Chopper said he might need a bit more time to cool off so they waited. Camie signed to Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy what she did over break, even if Luffy didn't understand what most of the hand movements meant they still caught his attention. 

Hatchan and Camie went to visit Sabaody, unfortunately, the stories of merfolk were well known and they were considered demons so the two have them had to stay human. That meant no water rides and only, hot showers and hand sanitizer.

Going dry for a merfolk or fishman was like getting rid of an addiction, but if you go too long you die, so the headaches and itchy skin were side effects they were still dealing with.

Luckily on the way back they were stopping at their adoptive parent’s home so they were mostly fine now, just tan and tired. When her hands got tired from signing as they often did she would communicate with Usopp with his telepathy, which made it easier for him anyway, he always preferred to have someone's head to be in rather than risk hearing a private thought.

A loud chime from the school’s bell tower echoed signaling the time, it was 12:30 meaning lunch was in half an hour. That was the time they decided to get their new friend, seeing as missing lunch was a crime in Luffy's book.

The walk was relatively short but not short enough to justify silence. Luffy whined about lunch being so late in the day and Chopper was babbling about his game to Camie who had no idea what a Link even was. It was comical actually, Chopper was so small compared to the others and his pink baseball cap did not help him look older. He babbled on and she just nodded, wide-eyed and confused.

When the group had reached the old gym, something was off. They heard shouts and growls, but it was not just one person. Chopper rushed to the door, hoping to find the blond in one piece.

Across the room, sat Zoro cleaning up the practice dummies like he always does after training, the confusing thing was Sanji was nowhere to be seen. The floor was scuffed up from shoes sliding on it, leaving black streaks behind. 

“Did a blond come in here?” Usopp asked Zoro jerked his thumb in the direction of the showers.

"Zoro you’re up! You can take me to the arcade after lunch!” Luffy ran full speed and the worn out teen only to be punched away. Luffy got the point and sat pouting from his spot on the other side of the gym while Zoro went back to scrubbing the marks off of the dolls.

The brooding teen was not talkative anyway, so they had let it be, well, everyone but Camie who had missed him more than anyone else. She jumped into his lap like she had done to Usopp earlier, except he hardly reacted. 

She tapped the bandana covering his hair in question and he ignored it which normally meant he had no real reason other than his normal one to be wearing it. She took his face in her hands, ignoring his harsh glare and signed “Where is your beanie?” and he signed back “Didn’t need it” and that was that.

Even with Camie signing and Zoro's lack of conversation the gym was still loud, mainly because Luffy's stomach had growled and reminded him that lunch was soon. Chopper tried to distract the rubber ball of energy with a literal rubber ball, that was used for dodgeball.

A red kick ball went astray and hit Usopp in the nose and it turned into a game of attack Luffy with dodge balls, which then turned into running away from Luffy who made himself into a giant dodgeball. 

Camie had since moved to watch the game from a large pile of folded up mats. She pulled her legs up and clapped whenever a point would have been scored, even if they were more aiming to hurt each other than to play for points. The play fight could last forever and as far as she and Zoro were concerned they could continue for that long.

The bathroom door opened and Sanji walked out drying his hair with a towel, he was in an old school gym uniform. Dark blue track pants and a faded black t-shirt replaced his burnt jeans and sweat covered shirt from running to the gym. 

The loud noise in the gym was surprising considering that there were only a few people in it. Sanji had taken a quick shower after sparring with Zoro because he was not about to go to lunch all sweaty and gross. Zoro had said he could take one in the shower room, seeing as he had already taken one. Even though he was drenched in sweat, he didn't seem to care, so Sanji left it at that.

When he came back out, because of the noise, he didn't know what to think. The three boys who had showed him around the school were hurling rubber balls at one another. Usopp's nose was bloody and Chopper was rubbing a sore spot on his arm. ‘These guys are stupid’ he thought.

The king of stupid was currently puffed up like a giant balloon and bouncing around chasing the other two boys, as fate seemed to be a cruel mistress today he bounced right onto Zoro's lap. The air that kept him looking like a big ball seeped out from his sheepish grin, but that guilty face only lasted a second before he tried to pull the grumpy teen into the game.

Zoro just kept pushing the boys face away with a scowl, Sanji was starting to think this guy did not like people. He could not for the life of him think of why these people thought it would be safe to annoy him, fun yes but that idiot hit hard. 

When the youngest of the trio chimed in after throwing a ball the sour teen. Zoro finally got up, took three rubber balls aimed and hit all three square in the chest. Just like that, the game was over and Zoro went about cleaning up the room while Luffy laughed like a maniac. 

“You can, at least, help me clean up the mess,” he said in a bored tone and all of them picked up a few things to put away Sanji included. Once the room was clean for the fourth and hopefully final time for the day he finally let the tension he had been holding in his back ease up.

“Lunch time right” Luffy shouted from over Sanji's shoulder and Usopp had only got the word yes out of his mouth before the brunette took off running.

“I will have to introduce you to Camie during lunch, right now I think we need to get there before Luffy eats it all.” that being said he took Choppers hand and made a run for it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sanji saw the green haired girl he assumed was Camie moving her hands around in front of Zoro who nodded and kept his brisk pace to the lunchroom, the quiet girl corrected the direction a few times before they finally reached the hall.


	8. Chapter 7: A Relaxing Lunch?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got it up close to on time, thank you guys for all the feedback. I feel like I am improving every day with your help and I love that feeling. This is a bit longer than the last few and not as active, but I thought we could a laugh before things get more plot heavy. So here is a chapter that had minor plot-changing events but is mostly just a fun chapter. As alway con-crit is welcomed, even wanted. I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to see what you think :)

Chapter 7: A Relaxing Lunch 

Sanji walked with Zoro and Camie and soon decided that if he ever wanted to avoid conversation they were his best bet. When they got to the lunch hall, he understood right away why Usopp and Chopper made a mad dash for the kitchen. Luffy had three empty trays of food and was working on his fourth. The other two sat across from him defending their food from his thieving hands.

Zoro and Camie walked up to the food bars full of different lunch options. The two picked the special of the day, without even looking at other options. Camie got a nice chicken dish while Zoro filled his plate with the same chicken and add a shocking amount of red meats. Sanji was about to do the same and trust that the chicken was okay when he heard yelling in the kitchen. 

The loud boom voice was not just any voice, it was Zeff. Sanji cringed with the realization that his old man was already working on giving him a bad name at the school. He lost his appetite at that thought. He would have yelled at him to stop throwing a tantrum, but he did not want to get kicked with his prosthetic leg. 

So instead, he got a small but balanced meal and sat with the group of misfits. Seriously he had no idea how any of them were friends, Chopper was apparently super smart, Usopp seemed more than a little annoyed with Luffy and terrified of Zoro, who could only be described as Oscar the grouch missing his trash can. 

“Luffy, that’s mine!” Usopp shouted smacking the rubber hand away from his plate, making the other pout with food still stuffed in his mouth. Luffy took whatever he could get and it was you protect it or starve for anyone else,  
That seemed to be how meal times went with them.

“You guys let him do that?” he found himself asking, really it wouldn't be such an issue if Luffy did not seem like a black hole.

“Well with Luffy it’s one for all, unless food is involved” Usopp joked, but somehow still made sure that he understood that it was truly an issue, Luffy was nice to everyone but food was clearly his weakness. 

Compared to the portions everyone was eating Sanji's tray made him look like an overly health conscious weirdo, but he had his reasons and he never trusted cafeteria meats; not until after he knew the quality. Taking a bite of his apple he sat and listened to Luffy's enthusiastic yet annoying eating while the aspiring doctor explains proper dietary needs; explain was a nice way of putting it, he was more telling Luffy to eat some vegetables for once.

Somehow this small round table managed to be the loudest in the room with three of the people currently not talking; granted most people were on vacation still and the room was only half. Usopp boasted about his many accomplishments to wide-eyed listeners, how Luffy and Chopper believed those stories he didn’t know, but their faces were entertaining. 

“So, the Undecided dorm, that’s where you Luffy and Chopper live, right?” Sanji asked Usopp trying to make some sort of conversation he could be a part of and not feel weird. 

“We all are in that dorm,” Luffy said with a mouth full of food which made Sanji cringe. “I’m in a room with Buggy and Usopp dorms with Zoro” he continued to talk while eating, smacking his lips together loudly. “Chopper shares a room with Bepo.”

“Oh, so you’re the roommate with weird dreams” Sanji grinned at the teen sitting next to Camie, the bandana boy just shrugged and otherwise ignored him. ‘Well, you’re an asshole aren't you’ Sanji thought turning back to his food.

The rest of the conversations were mostly about things he didn't know, like people or places in Nevada. Law came up a few times, but he only knew a little about Law so he had nothing to say. Sanji noticed the green haired girl not talking and could not help but wonder why a beauty like her kept quiet. ‘Maybe she’s shy?” He thought. He turned to his usual pile of mush and decided to talk to her first.

“Hello, lovely lady.” He cooed as over the top as he normally did, the whole table dropped all conversation before they erupted in laughter, except the highly irritated Zoro. Even the girl giggled a small bit; really just her shoulders shaking. She slammed her hands on the table in a way that reminded him of Nami when she was serious, before moving them excitedly in Usopp's face.

“Okay, okay I’ll tell him,” Usopp told her in between fits of laughter. “You messed up her game, she wants to know how you knew what she was doing” translated still laughing.

‘Knew what?’ was all he could think to say, but somehow that seemed like the wrong answer so he settled for looking around the table. 

Chopper must have noticed his confusion and explained. “Camie is mute, and she plays a game on new kids where she pretends to not hear them” Camie nodded before waving hello. “ It can come in handy when you meet some jerks” he giggled. “You made her laugh though, so you ruined her game” the youngest teen gave him a reassuring smile, “she thinks you’re funny.”

“Desole” Sanji gasped, “Je ne savais pas, pardonnez-moi s'il vous plait!!” he bowed his head in apology. ‘Je me sens horrible’ he thought keeping his head down and eyes away from his new friends.

“Um, what?” Chopper asked beyond confused looking to Usopp hoping he could clarify.

“Don’t ask me, I speak English!” he confessed just as confused.

Chopper just gave Usopp a look motioning to his head and tapping it twice, that still went over Usopp’s head ironically.

Sanji raised his head “ I am very sorry, forgive me please I had no idea” he translated only to drop his head once more.

“She can't forgive you if you can't see her hands stupid” the deep voice, that had been non-existent since Sanji's shower, chastised.

He wanted to glare at the bastard sitting near the lovely lady he offended, but he had a point, so he raised his eyes. She sat smiling before moving one hand over the palm of her left palm twice.

“That means I forgive you” Chopper explained,”It’s one of the few signs I know.” Sanji looked back to see her nodding and relaxed a little even though he still felt bad.

Being the new kid again really sucked. At least, these people weren’t trying to beat him up. Well, everyone but bandana boy. ‘I need to think more carefully about these people, Usopp can read minds, Luffy is made of rubber, Chopper is a were-something or other, and I have no Idea about the other two’. Sanji was lost in his thoughts and thankfully it seemed that the mind reader at the table was lost in someone else's.

“Yea, I can ask. Sanji what language was that, French?” Usopp asked from out of nowhere.

“Um, yeah. Sorry I didn’t know you were still talking about that.” He replied with a small blush. “I still slip up and forget to speak english sometimes.” 

Usopp nodded and explained that Camie was wondering what language it was, apparently they knew a few other people who spoke French as a second language and understood bits and pieces. 

They moved from language to the topic of other students and Sanji was happy he was not asked to demonstrate some french or explain his life story, that was always a painful experience. He didn't have the most exciting history, all he could remember was moving from France to Zeff’s house, after that he needed to learn english and was tossed into a school with “normal kids”. 

Not being able to remember his life before moving to the United States had been a pain, when people tried to ask him why he was here he couldn’t explain, at least then he had the excuse of not knowing enough english to reply properly.

“So you speak French?” Chopper asked, pulling Sanji back from his memories.

“Oui” Sanji grinned, he may not want to put on display, but being funny about it was not something he was against.

“Show off” Zoro quipped Sanji kicked him under the table hard enough to make the annoying teen wince. “You wanna fight again blondie!”

“Anytime bandana boy!” Zoro and Sanji stood across the table glaring daggers at each other waiting for the other to make the first move. 

Sanji would have kicked the idiot in the head if it wasn’t for a familiar shock of pain in his side, it most definitely was not the idiot he was arguing with, he was already sitting back down watching with curiosity.

“Knock it off eggplant, you just got here don’t piss anyone off yet!” Zeff’s gruff voice boomed.

“Fils de pute!” Sanji gasped, holding his side, happy he didn't fall from just that one hit, “t’es une salade!” he continued to curse his adoptive father.

“Watch your mouth brat!”

Sanji bristled, “You don't even know what I was saying!” 

“I can guess” Zeff replied with an annoyed huff. “Kitchen, dishes, now”.

He finally was able to stand straight, even if it ached to do so, “Not my kitchen old man”.

“Doesn't matter a kitchen is a kitchen, and an apprentice is an apprentice. You’re gonna be helping Ms. Kokoro so you don't lose your touch while you're here” just in case that sounded like worry, he had to add, “When you come back you better be able to make something better than the shit you call food!”

It’s not like Sanji really cared about his father's bad attitude really, it was the fact that the idiot he was arguing with before he got a whip kick to the ribs was trying not to laugh. Sanji calmed his nerves just enough not kill the bastard, at least, he was trying not too he would give him credit for that. By now he was used to the nickname and, love kicks as Zeff ironically called them and Sanji did not want to risk his father's wrath now.

“Whatever,” he mumbled, taking his unfinished apple to eat on the way and walked to the kitchen to meet his new dungeon master or head chef as was the official title. He opened the swinging doors; holding the apple with his teeth listening to the familiar sound of kitchen bustle. “The man with a crazy mustache sent me here” he called out after taking a bite of the fruit.

“You must be Sanji” an older woman shouted from another room. When she came out from a door Sanji immediately noticed two beyond bizarre things, one was that she was drunk, and two was the kid and cat laughing at her impaired state. ‘I feel better about eating in here now’.

He nodded his head and chose not to ask about her tag along helpers or obvious drinking problem and went to the dish cleaning station, tossing the apple core in the trash can in the way. In a way he was thankful for this, he could do something he was used to and still be in a kitchen. ‘I just hope I don’t die from the conditions this place is in’ he thought.

“The mustache man said you cook, not well, but he says you cook” the older blond woman stated.

“I'm not bad, he’s just an idiot” Sanji mumbled, he was cut off with a dish towel to the face and was promptly shoved by the blond little girl to the tub of dirty trays. ‘Great, I really am on dish duty’. 

‘I don’t know why he made me do this now, there were so many better times to force him into slavery’ Sanji replayed the scene in his head as he did the dishes. ‘Why would he send me here now?’ then it hit him, Zeff was alone with the people Sanji was sitting with “Shit!”

Sanji spent what felt like an hour, but really was only thirty minutes scrubbing trays and setting them to try, unfortunately in his haste to finish the job; he was given the position as dish boy because of his speedy work. He knew it had already been decided beforehand though, so it’s not like he was shocked. He was really thinking that whatever cursed star he was born under needs to be blown up because the universe was out to get him.

Once he finished the chore he walked into the eating area again, only to find Zeff still there as he predicted and he was talking to the people who had been kind enough to show Sanji around, ‘well I’m screwed’.

“What are you still doing here old man?” Sanji groched hoping to avoid any embarrassing conversations his old man may have started in his absence. “Don’t you have someone else to annoy?”

“You are 100 years too young to be calling me annoying brat!” The heavy set blonde chef shouted towering over Sanji with a glare lesser men would have run from.

Sanji just grumbled under his breath and took a seat next to Ussop. Zeff stayed by the table and Sanji was beginning to fear the possible outcomes of this situation. The rest of the table seemed to still, at least, respect him as a peer; so maybe the old man hadn’t ruined his reputation before he even got one.

“Anyway, this kid here got in so many fights in grade school I'm not surprised he found someone to piss off” Zeff laughed. “Why this kid, I don’t know, he could break you in half eggplant” he laughed loudly pointing his thumb at Zoro.

Sanji hated when his adoptive father was in a good mood like this one, It meant he was twice as likely to act the part of an embarrassing parent and today he was getting ready to leave his only son miles from home. Today may be the single most embarrassing day of Sanji's life so far.

“Shut up geezer!” Sanji shouted, kicking Zeff in his good leg. ‘I really hate my life sometimes’ he thought.

Zeff kicked him one more time just as hard as the first one of the day and Sanji was done physically fighting for now. He settled for death glares every time his father mentioned his childhood. ‘Why is he trying to ruin my life’ he thought as he tried to hide the blush on his face by using his hair.

“Wow, you sound like you were a reckless kid” Chopper sighed. “Looks like you were right, I’ll have another one to patch up.” Luffy was laughing, Sanji was convinced that was his default mood; mirth. The rest of the table had a variety of emotions, Usopp looked horrified, Camie was signing things he had no idea of, and Zoro rolled his eyes or smirked depending on the stupidity of Sanji's childhood antics.

“That was then, I don’t pick fights often.” He pointed a finger at a heavily scowling Zoro, “Only branleur like that deserve a foot to the face” Sanji smirked at Zoro's attempted glare.

“You want a second round that badly, keep insulting me like that” the other teen growled lowly, Sanji couldn't help the condescending smile on his face, ‘nothing better than an idiot rising to the bait’.

“He’s gonna die! He just got here and he’s gonna die!” Usopp jumped up and started running around the cafeteria drawing attention from the few people who hadn't already been watching Sanji and his outbursts.

“I would love to use you as a practice dummy for my firepower, maybe you’ll fair better than the other dummy did, dummy” It was fun to bait this Zoro guy. It was almost like fighting with Zeff, this kid gave as good as he got and the reactions made it even more fun.

Zoro grabbed the neck of Sanji's shirt bring them nose to nose, both stood their ground determined to win this unspoken staring contest. It was dumb that Sanji kept trying to bait Zoro, but even more so was the quiet teen reacting like a child.

“Someone call a doctor! they'er gonna need a doctor!” Chopper started flailing with Usopp until he was reminded that he was learning medical aid, and was, in fact, able to treat their wounds well enough.

“I will snuff out your flame faster than you could draw them out!” Zoro shouted right in Sanji's face

“Whose flame are you gonna kill?” A cheerful voice asked.

“Yea, like he could kill anything, hororo” 

Zoro tensed up at the bazaar laugh and turned his head slowly to the source of it, standing near the table, they were at stood two people, a pink haired beauty, and a shirtless brunette.

“I thought you were staying at home,” Zoro said through gritted teeth.

She laughed again, louder than before, something that clearly got on his nerves. “It’s so uncute to stay at home all of the winter break” she pouted.

Zoro sighed and plopped back down in his seat with a slightly deeper scowl than he had before. Out of the corner of his eye, Sanji saw Luffy jump up and attach himself to the tall shirtless brunette.

“Umm, what?” Sanji asked, looking around the table, ‘why did he stop yelling at me?’ he was mildly disappointed he couldn't kick Zoro's ass.

“Siblings” was all Chopper said, glancing at Zoro's scowl and Perona’s ever-present pout.

“Luffy and Ace are the boisterous brothers, while Perona and Zoro are the gloomy girls” Usopp joked, he laughed at his own joke until Zoro punched him in the head for calling him a girl.

Sanji was used to Nami and Nojiko, they fought about dresses and makeup. Luffy and Ace were fighting over a piece of Ussops lunch while Perona was poking Zoro in the face complaining about his inevitable wrinkles. 

“Old man,” Sanji said as they both watched the scene before them, “Thank you for not making me go through this.”

Zeff laughed and shoved Sanji’s shoulder. “It was hard enough to raise you, if I tried to watch another kid, I would have died early” he continued laughing. “Every time you snuck out on dates only to come back at two AM thinking I didn’t know.”

Sanji gritted his teeth to keep from flipping his lid. “And then the one time a girl came home with you” 

“Shut up!” Sanji yelled silencing Zeff’s embarrassing story and, unfortunately, gaining the attention of Luffy Ace and Perona. “Sorry princess” he said to Zoro's sister.

“Aww, he’s so cute! Zoro, you finally have a nice friend!” she cheered. Zoro’s face paled and Sanji was far too amused to think that she had called them friends. “I'm Perona.”

Sanji took her hand and brought it to his lips kissing it chastely, taking in her appearance, it was really a shock that she and Zoro were related. Zoro was grumpy and quiet while she seemed to be almost a polar opposite. Usopp still looked terrified of her for some reason and she looked to be glaring at him a few times.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Perona, I’m Sanji” he cooed. She laughed and pulled him into a hug, calling him super cute, Usopp and Chopper gave Sanji looks of pity; Chopper even took his hat off like you would if someone was dying. ‘What's that about?’ he wondered.

When she let him go she couldn't help but notice the odd one out, Zeff was still standing near the other end of the table; just watching.  
“What are you still doing here?” Sanji groaned, there was no reason for him to be hanging around a bunch of high schoolers. In response to his son's attitude he took a seat on the opposite side of Zoro who grunted in what he assumed was surprise.

He just sat with hands folded like a perfect school boy posing for a picture, Zeff said nothing; he just sat there like the smug asshole he was. The whole table was awkwardly quiet now except Luffy, and his brother Ace, Sanji could feel the eyes looking at him for some sort of explanation; one he wished that he had.

“Get out of my mind boy,” Zeff said out of nowhere, “There are things you do not want to see in there,” he wagged his eyebrows suggestively and Sanji was praying the ground would swallow him whole.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Sanji asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Zeff gave him a look with innocent eyes and said “Me, why I’m not doing a thing” he said in mock offense. He was messing with Sanji it was obvious now, at least, Chopper found it amusing.

“You are an evil old man” Sanji commented and resigned himself to whatever fate he was to have. He sat back down by Usopp. ‘Perona annoys Zoro, Luffy annoys Ace, my dad annoys me’ he thought as he sat staring at Zeff.

A ringing that Zeff was trying to ignore ruined his plan to pester Sanji all day. When it stopped and he acted like nothing happened every one of the teens at the table looked at him like he was nuts. He gave up and took it out of his pocket to look at what the noise was.

He couldn’t respond, the typical parent problem; technology is an adults kryptonite. 

“Need help old man?” Sanji asked, trying his best not to laugh as Zeff turned the thing around trying to make it work. Once he started to shake it violently Sanji just took the damn thing. “Cyborg? Really, you have him in here as Cyborg?” Sanji criticized.

“I didn’t do it, he helped me set up the damn thing. Now give it here, brat!” He leaped for the phone, but Sanji used his long leg to keep distance between them. It was amusing to watch his old man pout like an overgrown baby because he couldn't understand his phone, but it was way more fun to watch him try to get it back with one leg and 150 pounds of fat holding him back.

-Meet me in my new office. Robin wants to talk to us.- “What do you need to say to that geezer? Just go to his office.” ‘Really how dense are you’.

“Just give it back” Zeff growled

“Yeah, yeah, give me a sec,” Sanji said as he texted Franky that his dad was incompetent and had no idea how to use this thing and tossed it back to his father, who thankfully caught it.

“Damn brat” Zeff grumbled as he looked over what he sent to Franky before his phone pinged again. “Alright, I’ve gotta go, don’t piss anyone off” he grumbled as he made to leave the lunchroom.

Once he was gone Sanji burst into a fit of laughter, Zeff was sitting there trying to be a cool parent and embarrass his son but it backfired big time. ‘My dad is and idiot, entertaining, but still dumb’.

“Your dad’s pretty cool,” Chopper said, but Sanji got the feeling the word weird was what he really meant. 

Camie was signing to Usopp, apparently he was her voice. “She says that you have something in common with her, you both like to cook” Usopp translated. “And I think your dad is terrifying.”

“You think everything is terrifying” Zoro added with a smirk.

“When you tried to use me as a sword that was terrifying!” The long-nosed mind reader squeaked.

‘Using a friend as a sword, and I thought possessing literal firepower was strange’ he thought. So far this school was not what he was expecting and today was a roller coaster. ‘I just got here and got bullied, ended up in a fight with a bodybuilder to be and know at least two people I can talk to. I’m not sure if today would be counted as a success.

“I’d say yes, considering nobody's dead and Luffy has decided you are his friend. You can't leave now, even if you tried” Usopp laughed

“Nope, definitely not a good day; someone keeps reading my mind,” he growled and Usopp shied away.

“To be fair, he can’t really control it” the older brunette Sanji remembered as Ace defended. “It takes a while to master any ability.”

Sanji knew that, but it got annoying after a while. “Yeah, I know it’s not fair. Sorry” 

“Oh, Ace show Sanji how you turn into fire! He can do it too” Luffy yelled, jumping around, Usopp tried to remind him of what Robin said, but the hyperactive idiot didn't hear a word of it.

Ace just shrugged in what Sanji assumed was a won't hurt anything gesture and was suddenly a large humanoid flame was in the place of Ace. 

“Yeah, it's pretty easy” the fire said and circled around different people at the table before stopping in front of Sanji again. “So you can’t do that yet?” He asked 

“I don’t think I can, hell I’m pretty sure that I'm shit at this whole fire wielding thing altogether” Sanji admitted with a small laugh.

Ace set a gentle hand on Sanji's shoulder before lighting said hand on fire.

“What the hell!” Sanji cursed.

“Burnt the outfit not you, probably an elemental soldier. Damn, I was really hoping we would get another fire wisp around here” Ace cursed as Sanji touched the hole that was now burnt into his shirt. ‘I have a feeling I should invest in cheaper clothes’ he thought as he glared at the older brunette who pouted like a puppy.

When he stopped messing with his ruined shirt he turned back to the group of young adults.

“Wait, so if I was what you are I would have been burned?” He asked slightly irritated.

Ace shook his head “No, you would have turned to fire and they would have acted like two south sided magnets, pushing against each other” he explained.

“Why does that happen?” Sanji questioned.

Chopper jumped up excitedly. “Well fire wisps are like messenger pigeons for fire soldiers or, at least, that's what they were used for in the past. The reason the fire repels fire wisp fire is because it acts like two solid objects trying to fuse together.” Well that made sense.

“So, Sanji and Ace can’t have fire tag games?” Luffy asked, pouting like the big child he was. 

‘I am surrounded by idiots, I will not survive this place’ Sanji thought as he rubbed at his temples.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just adding that I am working on other stories I have not started posting but if you would like me to post them in between chapters of this, I would be happy to. I just don't want this to stop being my main focus, let me know if you want me to upload other stories in-between Undecided Dorm chapters.


	9. Chapter 8: What a day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the day that did not want to end for some reason lol. You finally get to see what power Zoro has my friends and this first day at Ohara is finally over! I am excited to continue, I will be going over all the chapters again in the future to fix the issue I missed, but for now please enjoy. As always Con-Crit is encouraged and greatly appreciated.

Chapter 8: What a day

Lunch was much more lively than Sanji had at his old school, but that was nothing compared to anything these guys did in an open field. After Lunch Ace suggested that all go spend some time letting off steam saying something about Luffy always having too much energy. 

While walking out of the room, Ace talked about all the things his ability could do, making Sanji feel light years behind everyone else. He tried his best not to whine about it to near complete strangers, but maybe they could help him a bit.

Ace offered to work with Sanji on fire control after Sanji asked about a million questions about it, and that is why he ended up standing in a grass field with a shirtless upperclassman moving his body around to increase his chakra flow or something. 

“You are way too tense, relax a bit” the older teen instructed which only irritated Sanji more. ‘I am trying to relax dammit, but if you keep touching me, I'm gonna murder you slowly’ he thought, doing his best to hold his tongue. Sanji has never really been the type to like physical contact unless it was short-lived or in a fight, the only exception was women and that was more because they were delicate creatures.

Ace pulled Sanji's shoulders apart to make him stand a bit straighter and Sanji ground his teeth together. His hair started to heat up and the more Ace moved him around and touched wherever he wanted to cause Sanji to let his fire go by way of pissing him off.

“See, it’s working” the older teen bubbled with joy. “Now you just have to hold it for five minutes,” he instructed still not backing away from the blond. ‘This guy can not keep his hands to himself, what the hell’ Sanji thought before It dawned on him that the other was likely doing this on purpose to get him literally, fired up. 

Really, if this was how people were taught to use abilities here it was not going to work with Sanji. He felt his flames die down a result from the moment of despair, he needed to be truly pissed to even bring up his flames for some reason.

“I don’t get it!” He shouted. “Back in Michigan it did whatever the hell it wanted, now it’s being shy or something” Sanji kicked at the ground in irritation. “Is there anything else we can try?” 

Ace patted his shoulder “You are stressed out, happens all the time” he said smiling. “You seemed to need to be angry or something for it to work, I’m not used to that kind of fire. Hey, Zoro get over here!” He yelled

“No, I do not want to deal with that ass hat” Sanji grumbled as Zoro made his way over. “ No go back, I want you nowhere near me right now!” He hollered.

Zoro smirked and slowed his pace but did not turn around. “Why are you afraid I’ll actually hurt ya?” He asked sounding smug. “Are you afraid of what my power is?” He asked acting cocky and successfully drawing out Sanji's flame.

“Afraid of what? You, oh hell no!” Sanji’s hair turned to fire as his hands slowly turned red. “I said I wanted to use you as a practice dummy if you are that eager to audition for the role be my guest”

Zoro stopped just in front of Sanji looking into his eyes challenging him. He was a different demon when it came to fighting that much Sanji already knew, his friends saw it and Sanji hated both sides of this man. He was a cocky little shit when he was fighting and a brooding dick any other time. “I'm going to enjoy this” Sanji hissed with an evil grin.

He burst into flame as Zoro glared at him, he was about to get a fiery kick to the face and Sanji was going to enjoy it much more than he probably should.

“That all you got, cook?” Zoro spat the word ‘cook’ like a curse word, he was baiting Sanji now. The blond lashed out with a hard kick that Zoro blocked with his bare arm. ‘What kinda idiot is he!’

Ace jumped in between them stopping the fight. “What the hell Zoro, I’m gonna need to get Law that’s a bad burn.” The fire wisp took the burnt arm to inspect it, Zoro didn't care and Sanji could see it in his eyes, they said good try but I’m still standing. ‘This idiot goes for blood’ Sanji thought with a grin before moving to the side of Ace and aiming another kick at Zoro's head.

“Just like I thought” Zoro grumbled as he pulled his arm from Ace and repelled the force of Sanji's kick with his arms crossed in front of him. Sanji could hear Ace yelling at the two of them, but that was in another world, right now he had an ass to kick, and that was what he intended to do.

Another kick and another block, Zoro was just playing keep away and he was very bad at it. Sanji’s fire grew hotter and the air was as dry as the desert, the sweat on Zoro's body dried before it could even cool him down. The amount of heat in the air was sure to make most people collapse from dehydration, but this guy was still standing hardly looking phased.

“Shit stop, he’s gonna dehydrate!” Chopper screamed and Sanji turned to see the little doctor running at them.

He was shocked out of his distracted state by a fist to the ribs. “Never take your eyes off of your opponent” Zoro grunted throwing another punch. “Also payback to attacking while Ace had my arm,” he added with a grin.

“You are fucking dumb, I am surrounded in flame and you are touching it with your skin” Sanji laughed. He normally would be concerned about someone this reckless, but right now he couldn’t care less. “I guess I have to show how much of a bad idea that was.”

He wound up his kick tightly, but before to could connect his kick was stopped in mid air and he was forced back by something strong. ‘What the hell was that!’ Sanji got to his feet and saw Zoro, on the other side of the field. 

He ran at Sanji full force and faster than a human should be physically able to, managing to clothesline him in the chest. “No one can call me dumb but me, you shit cook” he tackled Sanji to the ground and the grass around them burst into flames. The grappled in a ring of fire, shouting insults at one another.

“You are dumb your super speed or whatever the hell that was only managed to get me distracted and now you are covered in burns!” Sanji shouted. “ It’s dumb, who would do that?” He yelled even louder.

Zoro pinned Sanji's shoulders the ground. “Who would ask for help with his own fucking ability,” he asked with a smirk. “We all figured it out on our own, it’s your ability no one can train it for you!”

Sanji stilled for a moment, ‘this guy is a piece of work’ was all he could think and he ground his teeth together. Sure, he had a point about needing to figure it out on his own, but he was at least half a semester behind even the new students, it was worth a shot to ask.

“Well, why can’t you just lecture me like a normal person you maniac!” He flipped Zoro and pinned him with his strong legs. “Getting new scars from burns ain’t gonna help prove your point.” He squeezed Zoro's rib cage with his thighs while his calfs wrapped around his legs.

“I should just burn you to a crisp, you are an annoying shitty fighter, who thinks he can fight fire bare-handed and look cool while doing it,” Sanji said regaining his composure. “What are you trying to show off for Camie or something cause let me tell you this ain’t gonna do what you want.” 

Sanji had long since had his personal fire got down completely, but the ring around them was still blazing, he and Zoro were just yelling in each other's faces, practically rolling in the fire. 

“It has nothing to do with her you just stormed in a messed up my day, You piss me off. Also, I wanted an excuse to punch you again” Zoro argued elbowing Sanji in the rib cage. “ I don’t know what you called me earlier and I’m not gonna chance that it was an insult in that gibberish language of yours and just let you get away with it” he grunted as the blond kneed him in the thigh.

Sanji focused on his flame and decided he wanted to brand this bastard, his hands heated while he held tight to Zoro's forearm. It was truly sadistic he never felt the need to truly hurt anyone, let alone with his hands but something in him snapped. ‘I piss you off, really I just got here and you are picking fights with the new kid’ he yelled in his mind stopping just short of it leaving his mouth.

As his hands climbed in temperature Sanji's eyes changed from the normal blue to red he could see it the wide-eyed flicker of panic on Zoro's face and it was worth every cut and bruise he was going to wake up with. It was only a second and Sanji's eyes flashed back to normal as soon as the shock left Zoro's face. ‘Maybe it was the light’ he thought and he tightened his grip.

“Not gonna work” Zoro bragged and Sanji turned up the heat while glaring hoping to freak him out again. His hands turned into literal flames and the other teen winced as his arms started to smoke. ‘Am I cooking him alive, is really not going to call mercy?’ Sanji wondered but did not let up. “I told you, it’s not gonna work” he grunted.

“What are you talking about, you are being cooked alive! What the hell kind of pain tolerance do you have?” Sanji shouted in his face noses almost touching.

Zoro shook his head, “Look again”. It wasn’t smoke, it was steam. Sanji's face paled as he realized what was happening. “Yep, I see ya got it now.” He gloated. ‘Cocky little shit I’m gonna murder him’ Sanji's eyes flashed with pure fury and realization set in.

“Well, if that’s the case, this won’t hurt,” he turned up the heat again, to the highest heat he could stand himself and watched as Zoro pulled water from seemingly nowhere. Sanji was doused in lake water that turned to steam on contact creating a foggy space around them. .

Zoro smirked and Sanji groaned as the field cleared of steam, the ring of fire was put out by Zoro's water and there was not much mud because of Sanji's fire drying out the area. ‘I hate this guy so fucking much’ he rolled onto his side trying to catch his breath.

“What the hell guys!” Ace yelled. “Are you crazy!” He pulled Sanji to his feet, inspecting him as Chopper did the same to Zoro.

Zoro tried to push Chopper away, but either the little guy was stronger than he looked or Zoro had a soft spot for him. 

“Zoro I can't treat burns like this, you are going to have to see law” the little doctor sighed before slapping the injured man's arm making him grunt, Sanji had to laugh at that. “And you, I was hoping that I would have someone around who didn’t start fights” he tried to glare at Sanji but he was so young and small it had little to no effect.

The rest of the people who had watched the fight made their way over and each one of them took the time to scold them for being dumb, everyone but Luffy and Chopper; who yelled practically the whole time. 

“I knew you guys would get along” Luffy laughed and pulled them both into a bear hug knocking all three heads into each other. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Zoro's glare and sent back one just as powerful. ‘This ain’t over’ he thought and he could see that Zoro felt the same way.

Usopp was snickering to the side of them, “I’d say things went a little too well, don’t you think Ace?” He asked with his hand over his mouth.

“I swear to all things holy, I will kill you both,” Zoro threatened, gritting his teeth tightly.

Ace just grinned wider. “Yeah, things got a little steamy” and then Zoro was chasing them while everyone with a brain stayed behind laughing.

“So who actually won the fight,” Luffy asked with wide eyes.

Zoro stopped bashing the two idiots heads in long enough to yell “I did!” In unison with Sanji.

“No, I nullified your fire so I won, cook” Zoro growled as he made his way back to the circle of friends dropping a bruised Usopp and snickering Ace as he did.

“I have a few bumps and bruises, but you are gonna have scars, I won” Sanji challenged stepping one foot in front of him to physically stand his ground.

Zoro stood next to Camie having a staring contest with Sanji before saying. “Alright, I know how important it is for a pretty boy like you to look cool at a new school, I give you the win” he deadpanned cleaning his ear with his pinky finger.

“Give? No, I won fair and square, don’t act like I'm some charity case!” Sanji argued back. “If anything I should give you the win because I backed down first.”

“Backed down first, I never really even started fighting, so you win by default” Zoro shouted waving his fist around dramatically.

“You took me down with one move using your ability, I was using it the whole time. That means you win because you took me down faster than I could take you down” The blonde continued.

If no one did anything this could have gone on forever, but luckily Perona was still around to stop the nonsense.

“It’s a draw,” she said, pushing the two away from each other. “Now can we go do something less un-cute” she pouted giving them both the puppy dog eyes.

Sanji turned into a puddle of mush yelling. “Of course, anything for you princess. Camie- Chan what would you and Perona like to do?”

“I'm taking a nap” Zoro declared and walked away.

Chopper stopped him before he could get too far. “Two things, one the dorm is the other way” he paused to let his snickering friends quiet down. “Two, I am taking you to Law, now!” He ran up and grabbed Zoro's arm, pulling him in a direction Sanji had only seen from a distance.

“You guys are nuts” Usopp cried as he hid behind Camie. “You, Luffy, and Zoro are downright monsters.” Luffy laughed and patted his friends back, Sanji was slightly hurt by being called a monster, but Usopp didn't seem afraid of him so he figured it was alright.

“What now?” Sanji asked as he brushed some dirt off of his shirt.

“Well, you could fight me now” Ace suggested dropping his arm to lean on Sanji's shoulder slightly, the older teen was really friendly and far too touchy for Sanji's liking but he could be mad about that later, now he was tired.

“Yeah, I’d rather not watch you fight Ace,” Usopp said with a small tremor in his voice clearly afraid of the older man. “Besides Chopper might kill Sanji if he fights again today,” he added almost as an afterthought.

Perona was still standing next to Sanji glaring at Ace who only snickered at her heated look. “What else are we gonna do then,” the fire sprite asked with a slight whine that caused the Pink haired women to roll her eyes.

“Would you stop whining, it’s so un-cute” Perona chided and Ace laughed only to whine louder.

“How about we just hang out in the quad?” Ace suggested ignoring Perona who rolled her eyes again dramatically. ‘That sounds like it will either be boring or average, perfect’ Sanji thought. Today had been a long enough day and more powers were not something he wanted to deal with.

“That sounds safe,” Usopp said with a smile and Luffy jumped on his back yelling about throwing a football around, which Usopp boasted about being the champion at.

It was decided that the quad as they called it, would be the next spot. It was in the middle of all the school buildings, meaning that people crossed through it a lot at various times day and night. On the way, Sanji learned a bit more about the two new members hanging around them.

Perona could fly and was a known necromancer, summoning ghosts to scare the piss out of Usopp. It seems Usopp and Perona had some sort of history but Sanji really didn’t care to find out about it today. Ace, while being a fire wisp was apparently a big prankster and Ohara’s resident heartthrob. 

Ace knew just about every girl on campus on a first name basis, even a few guys were flirting as they reached a more populated area of the quad. 

“So you are the one to beat for the attention from pretty girls around here?” Sanji commented with a friendly smile. Ace being a flirt made a lot of sense with his lack of regard for personal space.

“Not just the ladies, blondes with blue eyes follow me like a lost puppy,” he replied with a waggle of his eyebrows and a hearty laugh.

“Your girlfriend lets you flirt like that?” Usopp looked shocked at the idea.

“Yeah, it sucks for all the people who want me, but can’t have me, I am spoken for honey,” he said leaning into Perona’s face. Her response to the insinuation that she was a person who wanted him was a ghost flying through him.

“I should be blown out like a candle” he groaned laying on the floor looked like he was hit by the force of a bus. A girl passed by yelling “I’ll blow you baby” and her girlfriends snickered as they walked passed. 

This place was lively, people tossing footballs, some with their minds while other studied for the test coming up after the break. It was a typical high school or college, but people had powers thrown in. Jocks in the school’s official team jackets, their name embroidered on the back. 

“I didn’t know that they had sports teams” Sanji nodded his head to the big guy with bleach blond hair and tan skin. He looked like a professional bodybuilder, he might be the only guy in the world to have an eight pack for all Sanji knew.

“That’s Daz, he's one of the most popular football players on the team. The guy is a real powerhouse, he can give Zoro a run for his money” Ace said while munching on an apple that Sanji could have sworn was not with him before.

Sanji looked from Ace to Daz and back “Zoro is on the football team!” It shouldn’t surprise him, Zoro had an elitist attitude and clearly thinks he knows better than everyone else.

“Yeah, me, Zoro and Daz are on the division one team” Luffy jumped up excitedly. “I'm the tailback, Daz is the quarterback and Zoro plays a wide receiver!”

That's definitely news. Sanji was about to ask about the rest of the team and if they had a division two team, he guessed they did by the way Luffy phrased things.

“Dad made him play on couch Shanks' team, he said something about it keeping him in line,” Perona said. “Football is so un-cute, I think the Photography is much more fun” she coos

“No one wants to join your stupid picture club” Ace rolls his eye taking another bite of his apple, which is tossed in the air midway to his mouth as ghost hits him. She catches the apple and eats from the other side while laughing. 

Sanji watched as Luffy laughed and Ace whined about his loss of food and Usopp hid from the ghost Perona had Summoned, this really was a lively group of idiots. 

“I know you just got here and everything but clubs are more useful here than in normal schools,” Usopp said peeking out from behind a tree. “I'm in the web design and coding club, it can help with focusing on a major.”

He supposed that made sense, he still didn’t understand the major thing fully but he could see the purpose. The day went on with the group of them hanging out in the quad until dinner, which Luffy knew the time without looking at a clock. Zoro and Chopper joined them for dinner and Sanji was looked over by the little doctor who deemed him good enough.

It was a long day and when they were walking back to the dorm Sanji found himself too tired to care that he had never slept here before. Walking up a flight of stairs and down the hall with Luffy to the shared doubled dorm, he was thinking about curling up in bed and sleep. Luckily Luffy had the same plan.


	10. Chapter 9: Days go by

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am soo sorry for this late update! I am getting married in August and wedding planning is a pain in the ass. Hopefully, the longer chapter will ease the sting of updating late. This is a set up heavy and exposition heavy chapter but we do get some more time with the group of friends and how they interact together. If you notice something that needs fixing please tell me and as always con-crit is super helpful and much appreciated. I hope everyone is enjoying the story as much as I am enjoying writing it.

Chapter 9: Days go by

Teal light fought for dominance over Sanji's raging power as the dream played over in his mind for another night. It was the same struggle and every time Sanji woke up feeling like a danger to everyone around him. The teal light had become a savior of sorts in his dream and his own light played the villain and a convincing one too.

Sanji woke up as he was not able to breathe in his dream the swirls of blue suffocating him this time like they had done in other versions of the dream. When he woke up the sun was just barely peeking out from behind the horizon and someone was looking through Sanji's things.

“Et merde!” Sanji shouted in surprise, his groggy mind taking note of the other person in the room. “Qui es tu?” he asked before noticing that he was not speaking English and correcting himself saying, “Who are you?”

The other teen in the room shot to attention when he first heard Sanji curse but stood still in an attack stance. “I am many people, but right now I am the owner of this bed mon ami,” he said pointing to the other bed in the room. “Who are you?” he raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.

“I’m Sanji your new roommate, I guess,” he said with a yawn. “What time is it?” he asked, scratching at his no doubt messy mane. He rolled out of his bed that his back was unhappy with and outstretched his hand for to greet the person he was going to spend every night with for the foreseeable future.

“I'm Bon, sorry about being rude it’s just my friends are kinda mean and like to play pranks,” he said shaking Sanji's hand. “So, tu parle francais?” Sanji almost laughed but he was too busy fighting the cringe from someone not native speaking french. 

He shook off the momentary discomfort to answer. “I was born in France and the language stuck,” he said with a shrug.

“Well, if you’re new I should probably tell you that Luffy, the kid across from us; is the breakfast alarm for this side of the floor” he smiled as he folded his brightly colored clothing and set it in the drawer. “He’s a handful but he’s a great friend.”

Sanji smiled, “I think I met him yesterday, and I can't argue the handful comment” Sanji quickly pulled an outfit from his unpacked duffle bag. ‘I am not going to wear something I like’ Sanji thought, remembering how he had ruined a good pair of pants yesterday. He slipped out of his comfortable pajamas and into a white polo and an old pair of khaki shorts, it may be winter but it's still warm in Nevada.

His hair was a mess and his entire body protested with each movement he made, ‘Likely over did it the other day, I am such an idiot’ he scolded himself as he slipped into a pair of gym shoes. This was casual and even wearing it in his own room made him feel underdressed, either way, he decided that he needed to suck it up and get on with the day. 

Bon told Sanji that if he wanted the bathroom he needed to take it before Buggy and Luffy woke up, apparently Buggy took his time to do his makeup and Bon admitted he wasn't much better. With that filed away in his mind, he snatched his toothbrush, hair brush, and shaving kit before making his way to the bathroom.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Working around three other teenage males in a bathroom was a pain in the ass, Luffy thought the makeup that smelled nice was food, Buggy and Bon argued about the amount of eyeliner that is appropriate, and Sanji was asked who wore it better when it came to makeup. Sanji decided on school days he was just going to wake up before everyone else.

It didn’t take long for Luffy to get fed up with the B-boys and he pulled Sanji to the common area but that was better than playing beauty queen with those two idiots. Luffy jumps over the rail on the steps as soon as he can see the ground, he lands on the couch with a hearty laugh that makes Sanji snigger. ‘That kid is going to get himself killed’ he thought.

Chopper was already up and true to every other time he had seen the young teen he was playing video games. Sanji would not have pegged him as a gamer but with how excited Luffy got just watching him play he could understand the love of gaming if only for the bonding. Everyone that was up already was dressed and talking about winter break, and for Sanji, this was a welcomed reprieve from the mental whiplash he got earlier in the week. 

Taking the steps two at a time he made his way over to Luffy and Chopper who were animatedly talking about something he could not understand. Usopp was the next one to show up in the weird group of friends Sanji had made and he was greeted with a short lived hug followed by a yawn, clearly not a morning person.

“Where’s Zoro?” Chopper asks handing his game console to Luffy who took it gladly.

Usopp suppressed another yawn. “Long night, he’ll be down here in a bit” he shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the comfy couch and Sanji followed, sitting down for the sake of feigning comfortability in his current surroundings.

People start entering the common area one after another either complaining about a loud roommate who could not be quiet, aka Luffy or just generally done with anything that was school related. Normal teens who had no idea what they were doing in life walking around with other teens just as lost, this was high school alright.

Zoro came down in a pair of fluffy pajama pants and the same green hoodie he wore the other day, hood hiding his eyes much like someone with a hangover would do.

“Zoro!” Luffy shouts jumping into Zoro's arms. He reflexively catches him only to drop seconds later with a mumbled shut up. ‘So hungover must have been a good guess’ Sanji snickered to himself, ‘Dumbass got drunk last night.’

“No, not drunk this just happens when he pushes too far, Law gave him some pretty strong meds” Usopp laughed as Zoro flopped down on the couch next to them hand hiding behind his head. From where he was sitting you could see the design on the fluffy pants and Sanji tried not to laugh.

Zoro, big, tough, asshat Zoro, was wearing fluffy Batman pajama pants. “Batman, really?” Sanji could not help himself he had his own preferences on superheroes but that was just downright nerdy.

“Fuck off Bruce Wayne is a certified badass, blondie” Zoro growled causing the dam holding back Sanji's laughter to burst.  
“Really? Let me tell you why Batman sucks, he has no superpowers, his best friend is his butler, without his money he would be just another whack job in a bat suit and he runs around converting people to his bat cult” Sanji lists using his fingers to make a point.

Zoro huffed a small unimpressed laugh, “He, unlike most superheroes worked for what he has. His mind is his biggest asset, not laser vision and he literally has a plan to stop every person in the justice league in case they go rogue. Hell, he even has a plan for if he goes rogue, that’s like the whole plot for Justice League Doom!” 

“Let me tell you something merman, the best superhero by far is Green lantern. He can fly and his powers are limited only by his imagination so clearly, that trumps money” Sanji snorts and Zoro rolls his eyes in annoyance.

“You are both wrong, the best superhero is the flash and the original flash, Barry Allen. That man was amazing, so yea the Flash but Batman as a close second just on principle you know.” Usopp chimes in having a nerdgasm all over the couch making Sanji laugh and Zoro argue about why the flash sucks in comparison to Batman.

The whole conversation pulled to a screeching halt for all of three minutes when Chopper broke in with his talk of Wolverine because, well obvious reasons. Somehow that turned the topic to X-men and now Luffy had decided that they were all practically X-men and ended up with Usopp insisting they call him Professor K as a play on Charles Francis Xavier.

The conversation died down to nothing more than jokes and small superhero movie quotes between the more involved fans as they made their way to the cafeteria for breakfast. It was like talking with Vivi about witches only to be corrected by Nami who had actually done her research on the matter.

Breakfast went fairly fast but it was far more crowded than it was the other day and because he had a group to follow like a lost puppy people left him alone. Everyone ate and some new people joined them. Law was currently being stern with Zoro who scowled at him while ignoring medical advice and then both went to get some coffee. It would have been a good time to talk to him but according to Luffy, Law was best spoken to after his third cup of coffee, so he left it be.

“So what are we doing today guys?” Luffy jumped from his seat literally bouncing around. 

Sanji rolled his eyes finding that the idiot grows on you quickly. “I have to go see my old man off and after that, I'm gonna check out the library, anyone wanna come with?” he offered with a smirk knowing full well that only two at the table would even consider going with him to research.

Zoro hypocritically called him a nerd and made plans with Luffy to run through some drills for American football while Chopper and Usopp agreed to tag along with Sanji. Once that was settled the three of them left Luffy and Zoro to argue about the fact that two people were fine to practice while Luffy wanted the whole team. Law stole Zoro's abandon coffee after finishing his own making a disgusted face before adding two sugar packets.

“So the geezer is supposed to take a portal or something home, you have any idea where that is?” Sanji asked as the three of them made their way out of the dining area. 

“Yeah, it's pretty hard to miss there's like a whole room of them!” The long-nosed boy said gesturing with his hands as if that somehow would paint the picture more clearly.’ A whole room of portals sounded a little dumb, why not just have one?’ he thought but decided against asking it.

However, that was moot anyway. “Portals here have fixed points, they go two ways and there's only one-per-state. The have three in Canada I think but they are much more understanding of our kind” Usopp explained earning a glare from Sanji who had noticed that he had read his mind.

“Okay, so two-way portals in and out of a fixed location sounds simple enough but what's the catch?” Sanji cocked an eyebrow in question.

Usopp explained how they worked and that you needed magic to activate it. The portal used a specific type of magic that was condensed into keys that the head of each department had. Apparently, people had been using them for unauthorized field trips to exotic places. 

When they got to the building Sanji was surprised he had missed it, but seeing as it was the smallest building and hidden in the back of the grounds it made sense to overlook it. The inside, however, was much larger than it looked outside. Marble flooring with white walls and a cathedral style ceiling. A chandelier hanging delicately in the center with candles that are too far up to reach and haven't been touched in a long time. It must be a hassle to clean.

The walls were filled with decorative arches that one would think served only to add to the overall look of the place. From what Usopp had said he assumed each one of these was a portal to a set location, how they worked he had no idea.

“You made it on time” Mr. Nikos voice practically sang from the other side of the large empty room. Standing next to her were both the father figure type person in his life Zeff and the big brother type Franky. It was just another day in life for Sanji when he saw that Franky was wearing something that hardly even fell under the shorts category, ‘it was the middle of winter for the love Chuck!’ It was still cold in Northern Nevada believe it not.

“Did you just think a Supernatural reference?” Usopp leaned in close to ask, Sanji was getting more irritated with this ability every minute. “Not judging it’s a good show, Zoro and I binge watched it on Netflix last semester.” 

‘Well at least the water wielder had decent taste in TV shows’ he thought. Robin walked with the only two male role models Sanji had known to what he assumed was the portal to their town or state at least. Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper made their way to the older trio.

“You know it’s funny both groups have a cook, a certified nerd and a super tech person” Franky joked clapping Sanji on the shoulder. Robin sent a glare that had Franky backing away in fear while Zeff just grunted in annoyance. 

“Please don’t even joke about me being like the mustache man Franky. That’s just mean” Sanji whined before wincing as Zeff promptly kicked him in the shin, calling him an ungrateful brat for good measure.

Ms. Niko smiled and shook her head obviously familiar with the two old men and their antics. It was weird to think of Zeff having friends outside of work, even more so when you added the super powers thing to the mix.

“I already explained how the portals worked to these two but in case of an emergency I should tell you how they work as well” she admitted pulling a key that she wore as a necklace from her neck. “Each department head has a key similar to this one that has a powerful witches magic that works with the key made by Haredas, a very powerful wizard. He only made one dozen like it and they are all in this school.”

“Each key has a different design for each person it’s given too, that way no one can steal another's key” she continued.

Sanji remembered Usopp saying something about teachers misusing the keys, but if there were only twelve of them. “Pardon me but, I heard there was an issue with the keys and unauthorized vacations or something.”

“Yes, unfortunately when each teacher had a key it went badly, but that was before you were born and when portals were hardly stable for commercial use. The portals have been rebuilt and stabilized several times seeing as it is nearly impossible to recreate a natural portal, and with that new keys were made and entrusted to each department head.” 

‘Okay lots of new information, breath, this is your life now’ Sanji mentally reminded himself as he tried to stay calm. Ms. Niko went on to explain either oblivious to his inner struggle or choosing to leave him in his own mind, the looks she gave him suggested the latter was more than likely the case.

“So when you walk through this one you will be in Millersburg Michigan, less than a three-hour drive from Bay City. Aokiji will be the one to drive you to bay city, from the city marker you will need to take a cab to your home for safety purposes.” All of this sounded like something you would do if you were sneaking around but Sanji figured that was pretty much what they were doing.

Lying to friends and co-workers about the nature of the school he was going to, telling them that he had to go now or he would miss an amazing opportunity when really he had no choice. Zeff was standing by the portal that would take him home and Sanji really let it sink in that he was not going with him. Eight years of having a family, messed up as it was and now it was being ripped away from him. 

The night he was told about this school came to mind and how he let his emotions get the best of him and how after it all he decided that he had to be stronger, and much to his surprise the ability to turn off his emotions was almost second nature. Franky was talking about what renovations the Baraties apartment was going to have and suggesting a few independent contractors he knew to do the job.

This goodbye was turning out to be more of a “See ya after soccer practice kido” than it was a see ya during spring break. The tension in the air was less than suffocating but just uncomfortable enough for eyes to shift between Sanji and his adoptive father. ‘What were people supposed to do when family is going away for a while, hug, cry, maybe even a heartfelt compliment.’ Sanji had yet to deal with someone leaving him because of this and it hit him harder than he had hoped it would.

Suddenly his throat was tightening slowly cutting off Sanji's airway and flames were dancing underneath his blonde locks as he tried to keep his emotions hidden. Pushing them aside to deal with them later was easy with bad situations, but uncomfortable ones were much harder to handle. Zeff nodded in his direction as if that was the perfect way to say goodbye after caring for Sanji for nearly eight years by himself.

A chuckle made its way passed Sanji's lips before he could stop it and Zeff’s ridiculous mustache twitched slightly as his eyes softened, crows feet and laugh lines just barely visible. You wouldn’t know it by looking at Zeff like most people would but Sanji spent years fighting for any kind of pride to be shown from this man and the small shift in his face was the most he ever got.

Nobody moved for what felt like a long while as the two blonde males had some sort of stare off instead of a goodbye but Sanji would rather have it this way. He was never one for hugs or affection shown in any to him, it was all for the girls. Not once when he had nightmares as a child did he crawl in Zeff’s lap for comfort, instead he would read or sing himself into a better state of mind.

The silence was beginning to become ungodly uncomfortable even if had in actuality been no more than a few minutes of eye conversation between them. This was it, Sanji was going to be alone in a new place again. The only thing different between this time and the last was the thing that made it hurt, he would remember Zeff. 

One more nod and a threat to come kick his head in if he burnt the school down were all he got as a goodbye, but that's just how they were. “See when I see ya brat” he heard faintly from the portal that Zeff had just stepped through and that was it, he was on his own now. 

“Bro, that was one chatty goodbye!” Franky joked coaxing a smile from Sanji. Ms. Niko gave him a comforting smile but said nothing as he led Franky away. Usopp and Chopper kept their comments to themselves trying to create a sense of privacy for the moment they had all witnessed and Sanji could not be more grateful.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the library, Sanji picked up a plethora of books about things his teachers and new classmates had covered earlier this year. Being behind in class work and dealing with subjects he had not even the slightest about kind of sucked so he planned to catch up at least a little. Law sat in the farthest corner of the library with Camie of all people next to him.

She waved the trio over to join them and while Sanji felt like an intruder Usopp and Chopper seemed to find his hesitation unnecessary.

“Hey, Cami, Law. What are you guys reading about?” Chopper whispered jumping into the older man's lap and leaning over the book to read it himself.

Camie chuckled a bit at Laws sigh but the fact that he allowed it seemed like something he was not likely to do. 

“Tony, I have not had near enough coffee, be a ‘deer’ and get me another on please,” Law asked in a bored tone. Chopper got off of the older man's lap and happily made his way to wherever he was going to get the coffee. 

“So welcome to the place I spend most of my free time in” he continued turning to face Sanji. “I don’t think we were properly introduced, my name is Trafalgar Law and that is just something Tony does when I read,” he says clearly referring to the sitting in his lap thing.

Sanji stretched his hand and shook Laws firmly. “Sanji Black and I didn’t think you would just let anyone sit on your lap like that. I would have said hello this morning at breakfast but I was told three cups of coffee minimum were required before human interaction for you” Sanji said with a quiet laugh keeping in mind the fact that they are still in a library.

Chopper came back with a to-go cup of coffee that he promptly handed to Law before pulling other things from a blue backpack he must have picked up while he was gone. He pulled out gummy worms, green tea, and two water bottles setting them on the table in the center.

Camie and Usopp both took a drink the tea for her and water for him while Chopper forwent hydration for the candy he clearly intended not to share. Law rolled his eyes as Chopper once again climbed into his lap causing the older student to read over his shoulder and not the other way around.

The five of them turned into a small study group, Camie had an essay due about how her break went and Usopp was working on some web design because apparently, it was a valued trade. Sanji opened the first book in his large pile on the floor that was up to his waist. The leather bound book was titled Creations of the world.

Small letters on textbook-sized pages like you would expect but there were no breaks in between for real pictures. There were a few drawings of the subtle differences in fire creature types but other than that it was all text. ‘Great, I’ll be reading for the rest of my life’ he mentally groaned.

The Creations of the world can be identified as one of three types of race. The Deity's Humans and the Prime. The Deity’s also referred to as gods ruled over the heavens as immortal beings while the Prime were under their control on earth. Humans came after the Prime as they were born from the Prime with no powers as a curse from the gods.

Deity: Immortal- These beings were locked away following the revolution of the Prime.

Prime: Mortal-The first magical creatures on earth often used as fighters for the Deities.

Humans: Mortal- nonmagical creatures that are now the majority of earth's population.

A picture of all three was drawn as an example. The god was the water god Neptune or Poseidon while the Prime was a picture of what Sanji assumed was a witch. Lastly, the human was tilling the land while Poseidon wiped them and shouted orders to the Prime.

Chapter 2; Instruments of our realm.

Creatures are a subset of Prime but closer to the animal kingdom. Were-creatures, Vampires, Centaurs, Mermaid and Fish people are all examples of creatures. They’re half human hybrids and can be born or created in some way relating to a creature.

Supers are humans with powers that were not set in their family line. Often times a super born to a human family is sent to a priest claiming satanic worship was involved. Each super has a specific power and no two abilities are the same though they may be similar.

Elementals are separated into three categories within their power set, the soldier, the sprites/ wisps, and influencers. Soldiers can create their element from nothing and bend it to their will while influencers can only manipulate what element they currently have access to. Sprites or wisps become the element themselves and are the living embodiment of the element.

So far all Sanji was understanding from this book was that there were a shit ton of different type of magical beings and he now understood why they had a school for them. The more detailed explanation of the elemental soldier gave him a bit more of an understanding as to why people seemed to think he was.

According to the paragraph and a half and artist rendering a soldier creates the element from its raw materials and has the blood of the element in them so to speak. Fire, water, earth or air was at their will because it was a part of who they were as opposed to the other types.

The differences seemed to be large enough to spot but were also strange. Wisps are closer to creatures like werewolves, having more than one form full element, half element or human. ‘I wonder if waterboy can turn into a river and get lost at sea?’ Sanji thought breath a small laugh out of his nose.

Light or Seelie: Typically associated with summer and occasionally spring these magical creatures are usually benevolent and kind to humans however often play pranks on any and all offensive creatures.

Dark or Unseelie: Typically associated with fall and winter these magical creatures are malevolent and should be avoided at all costs. These creatures include Cucui, Banshees, Dundes. These are all around the world and good at hiding.

Everything on this page is different names for good and bad versions of the same thing, the small pictures showed the only real difference is a frown. There were creatures who sang children to sleep, gave them pleasant dreams, protected them from bad home lives. Then there was the man with a limp who was a known kidnapper and fairies who were sentenced to live in trees because of serious crimes. ‘I am never going to eat Keebler elf brand cookies again’ he shuddered just thinking of the crime they could have committed.

Evil: This category is only for the foulest of creatures to have ever walked on this plain of existence. Never to be seen or heard from again these creatures have been dead for centuries . Dragons, Dark Angels, Shadow people, and Leviathans are known as ancient or extinct. The only known evil type creature to still be alive are the Shadow people, sightings are rare but they are very real.

After going through most of the what makes the bad things bad part of this book Sanji set the thing aside, fearing his mental state at this point. The next book he picked up was titled the history of Ohara, ‘that sounds like a much lighter read’ he thought as he opened to the chapter index.

The book was fairly short and made more references to books that Sanji already had in the person size stack than it had about the history of anything other than Ohara. What stood out was the writer of the book Sir Robin Niko. The decision was to an Oliva Niko a wonderful daughter and studious learner.  
Introduction:  
This is the story of how one of the most important schools of our kind came to be created. I warn you this is not for those who are faint of heart if you would like the fairy tale version of our history I recommend you ask a parent. In this short and concise book you will learn everything there is to know about the war and how the domino effect was the very school you have found this book in.

Chapter 1: War Times  
If you have ever lived during any time of war then you would know of the fallout that results in the lives of families with brothers or fathers in the war, it is no less than chaos. Many mothers ran with their children to avoid angel attacks but no Prime can out run those on the side of the gods. I cannot tell you what started this feud but the most popular story is that of love, I, however, believe it to be a need for power on the god's behalf. There was no hope of coming to an understanding and we had no choice but to fight back.

The rest of the chapter was a mix of whys' and why nots' accompanied with several other likely theories but each was just as far-fetched as the last. Sanji became lost in the book reading all of chapter one and chapter two before the third chapter caused his to pause.

Chapter 3: Killing Immortals and Erasing the Angels  
It was a hard decision to make but eventually it had been decided that the gods needed to be locked away on top of the mountain Olympus never to be heard from again. It took all of Prime kind to lock them away and while some deemed that just, others set out on an Angel hunt. The dark angles were nasty creatures with midnight black wings and no remorse for any other living being. They killed without mercy and had never given up the idea that they were above us. With the gods locked away and in no way able to control us, there was another war, this one more gruesome than the last.  
I cannot begin to describe the carnage that sat just outside my window as our town was destroyed by both the Angels and our own town folk. There was death and then there was worse, Angels humanized many of the prime, locking away their powers and rendering them helpless. Extreme measures were taken and Angels of light came down to rid our people of the pests, smiteing each and every black winged beast, completely erasing them from existence.

‘And I think I'm done with this book now as well’ Sanji thought as he pried his eyes from the page. This was one hell of a history and he hadn’t even gotten to the part where the school was built. Closing his eyes he decided to rest for a while, too much eye strain and brain pain is not good for your health.

Sanji isn’t sure when he fell into a sleep-like state but the lights surrounding him point to his normal dreams. The difference is that he is still in the library. He waits for the orange glow to become out of hand but it simply stays by Sanji's side, twirling around his legs like an excited puppy. 

Across from him, Usopp is signing with Camie and Chopper is still sitting on Law’s lap while the taller medical student reads over the boy's head as opposed to his shoulder. Nothing has changed from the time he set his book down to now, other than the fact that everything surrounding him is in a shade of gray like a shitty film noir.

‘Strange’ he thinks before deciding to investigate this wonderfully cloned version of the library. He takes a step and when his feet hit the hardwood there is no sound, no thump or creak, just quiet. Pushing aside the lack of noise he continues to walk finding that there are books and other odds and ends that were not there when Sanji was awake, clearly his mind is starting to go because mixing rooms together is never a good sign in dreams. It’s just that he can’t place the room the library merged with.

Another few steps and he is almost at the other end of the library to a new strange area when he is forced back to the chair he was sitting in only the world is still tinted in the strange shade of gray. Sanji figures it would be best to sit and wait to wake up from this weird ass dream when the little orange light he had always assumed was a representation of himself starts to vibrate. ‘Now would be a great time to wake up’ he thought as a gust of wind blew the fringe from his face.

He felt more than heard the pages of the book he had set down just moments before flip before stopping on a seemingly irrelevant page about the war between the prime and the godly type creatures. This particular part had detailed the more gruesome aspects of the war and as his eyes flew over the words as color started to slowly seep back into the world, starting with the book whose ink was changing to a blood red shade before dripping down and off of the page itself. 

Beside him the orange glow dimmed and its vibration’s ceased as the blood red liquid made a sickening drop, it was the first sound he had heard in this dream and after the deafening silence, it was loud enough to make him wince. 

Phantom pain slithered up his arm leaving an agonizing burn in its place and Sanji screeched with enough force to shake the room but still there was no sound. The burning stopped and was replaced with another sensation, the feeling of blunt force piercing his skin. The feeling of pressure breaking skin with no aid from any sharp point felt disconcertingly familiar, but then in dreams that can happen, he supposed. 

There was no real way to tell if he made a noise this time as he lost all sense of his surroundings, when his surroundings were back to the gray they were shrouded in before there was a dull pain in his thigh where the strange mix of blunt force and piercing sensation had hit.

‘What the hell is going on? This is my dream and now I wanna wake up’ his mind frantically supplied ways in which he was taught to wake himself up from a nightmare, pinch yourself, close your eyes and count to ten, even the idea of jumping from your dream to shake yourself out of it and nothing worked. 

He was hit with more blinding pain before it was replaced with another more dull sensation and all he could do was stand there, feet rooted in place as phantom pains struck him while he heard nothing, not even his ears were ringing from the occasional phantom blow to the head. The orange glow that had since dimmed was nowhere to be seen and Sanji was alone trying and failing to call for help.

Minutes that felt like hours passed and the pain had become expected and while he had never heard himself scream he no longer felt his mouth open to release it, the pain came and went while Sanji was helpless to stop it. The steady sound of drips echoing louder than a shrill scream in a barely insulated basement jolted him from the mild state of hypnosis and just like the piercing blow that made no marks he was struck once more. He made no sound not even one of surprise, only his eyes closing on instinct. When he opened them again the world was in color and he was still in the chair. The dream was over. 'Thank god, or is it gods now?'

“You okay Sanji?” Usopp asked though he obviously can tell that Sanji is far from okay. However long he had been asleep for must have been long enough for a thunderstorm to start because a flash of lightning lit up the sky.

“Yeah, just had a weird dream is all. When did that start?” he asked pointing to the sheets of rain and spattering of lightning, Sanji had never been a sound sleeper so it could not have been that long ago.

Usopp tilted his head slightly. “You mean the thunder isn’t what woke you?” 

“It might have been but I just didn’t realize, did I wake up right after the storm rolled in?” Camie was watching the rain fall with a small smile on her face and Chopper was out cold in Law’s lap, they were more adorable than they had any right to be.

“We should probably get back to the dorm before this gets any worse.” Law suggested clearly the only voice of reason in their group. Shaking Chopper awake and packing up their things, it was a mad dash for the dorm. Chopper switched forms and ran far ahead sprinting in what he called leg point or something, it was really just his long reindeer legs.

Once back inside of a building, the group of them shook the excess water from their drenched clothing and hair, Chopper even shook like a dog much to Ussops amusement and Law’s annoyance.

“You were caught in that?” Ace asked as he set candles out in case the lights went out.

Sanji took off his shirt that was so wet it stuck to his skin. ‘Feels like dead skin that won't come off and keeps sliding around, gross’. Usopp let out a small laugh and Sanji simply rolled his eyes, he was already getting used to the long nosed kid being in his head. The moments where he would just look at him and laugh were like a secret joke and it was sort of nice, in a way.

“We were at the library when it hit but it looks like it is gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better, so we booked it outta there” Sanji grinned as an idea struck him. He lets his flame rise to the surface and he focused on the heat more than the flame and drying his clothing faster.

Ace snickered from beside him “You pick up fast, that tends to come in handy more than you think.” He clapped Sanji on the shoulder once he was, for the most part, dry.

“Sanji your back! It’s raining cats and dogs out there, don't worry though Ace says it’s not real cat’s or dog's” Luffy yelled as he dropped from the rail at the top the of stairs bouncing his way over to them.

He wrapped his rubber arms around Chopper pulling him in for the world's largest hug before latching on to Law.

“Mugiwara, please get off of me, ” the older man said but Luffy seemed more than happy clinging to the med students body. “I need to get back to my dorm.” and with that, he pushed the rubber man to the floor. A loud clap of thunder sounded causing Chopper and Usopp to jump on the couch. Luffy dove after them just before the lights flickered out, the next thing they hear is a thud and Luffy complaining the couch moved.

Law stayed to help light candles but soon after he left and all the residents of the Undecided Dorm gathered in the main lobby area where all of the candles are set up. 

“It’s like a big sleepover!” Luffy cheered swinging Chopper around the room while Usopp started to tell tales about his epic sleepovers. “We should tell scary stories!”

Usopp stopped cheering “Or we could play twister, you know something less terrifying to do in the dark.”

“Too many people to play twister Usopp and scary stories sound fun” Ace added throwing his arm around the terrified teen. “At least Perona’s not here to scare the pants of ya.”

“Oh, ha ha mister I’m afraid to tell Zoro anything he wouldn't like because he’ll kill me. Speaking of Zoro where is he?” Usopp put his arm around Ace before he can get a smack to the head and the two of them just stood like that acting every bit like the friends who piss each other off for fun.

Luffy jumped over to join the duo turning it into a trio of dark-haired boys before it all fell apart. Sanji was starting to notice things involving Luffy to stay still never end well for the people involved.

“He and Daz didn’t want to come back to the dorm and play video games with Buggy so they went to the gym instead” Luffy pouted and Ace unhelpfully pointed out the reason he didn’t want to play games with Luffy and Buggy was because they cheat.

Ace somehow managed to get Luffy to sit down and play a game of charades splitting the group into several smaller groups. Luffy and his team were the StrawHats for some strange reason Sanji does not want to use the brain power it would take to understand. Several rounds in and Sanji had hardly spared a thought for his strange dream in the library, that space was being taken up thinking about Luffy pretending to choke on a chicken wing.


End file.
